Greatest Devil
by zRoyal
Summary: First story. Title might change. Laverus - son of a very powerful devil and his wife, and the strongest devil in history. He left the Underworld and his people behind, but he'll be visiting Kuoh- hopefully he'll be able to peacefully work out a solution to an issue. Overpowered!Godlike!OC Passive!OC M-rated just in case. SLOW UPDATES
1. Chapter 1

**Greatest Devil**

 _ **ARC 1: Beginning**_

 _Chapter 1:_ _**Laverus**_

"Sir? Isn't it a crime to be doing this?" A reincarnated devil asked his king as they stood on Japanese soil.

Specifically, they were in Kyoto, the home of the Youkai Faction. They were currently looking for members for the king's peerage.

Knowing the Youkai's famed use of Senjutsu and maybe even Youjutsu, they took off to find any Youkai who would be able to use either of them.

"Don't worry." The king answered, turning to his servant. "No one will know we're gone. I prepared a teleportation circle in advance. If we get caught, deny everything and run."

"But sir! There are rumors of some super powerful monster killing every devil entering Japan without permission! It had apparently killed even an ultimate class devil alongside his entire peerage by itself!"

"Mere poppycock!" The king replied, scoffing. "I am a Valac, I cannot die! I could run away easily!"

The servant frowned, but nodded regardless.

"Good." The king smiled, looking around. "Now, then, if I'm lucky, we might get a hot woman as a new addition. Lets go."

The king motioned forward, standing up before looking back at his servant.

He nodded, before running outside, looking left and right for any sign of danger, and ran forward.

He ran towards a house, resided by a family of three youkai to recruit- forcefully if necessary, his king following right behind him.

But neither of them made it past five feet before they felt a tendril grab them, throwing the two into an alleyway.

"At this time of night…" A low voice greeted the two as they landed. "What are you devils doing? You should know by now the law concerning devils going to Japan, don't you?"

"Who-who are you?!" The servant screamed, he was clearly terrified, judging by the fear in his voice.

"You have no right to ask, and I have no obligation to answer." The voice grew closer as it spoke. Right now, it was unknown whether the person was a male or female.

"Show yourself!" The king shouted into the silent alley. "I am a proud member of the Valac Clan! You _will_ apologise, whoever you are!"

"Who will make me?" The bearer of the voice finally showed itself to be a young, handsome man in his early twenties, obscuring most of his body with a dark blue cloak.

He had shoulder length black hair, with several locks of his hair framing the left side of his face and ocean-blue eyes.

"You're are devil?!" The Valac clan king demanded. "What reason do you have for attacking us, Sitri?! Don't think I didn't know what it was that grabbed me!"

"Oh." The 'Sitri' devil rose an eyebrow. "Simply because I am a master of water magic does not mean I am necessarily a Sitri. But enough about me."

His hand rose, and the king, as well as his servant, found themselves feeling overwhelmed with dizziness.

As the poor servant was too weak to withstand a mass of blood cells suddenly travelling to his brain and passed out, the Valac clan member stood up, albeit weakly.

"Wha-what are you doing… to me?" He demanded- this time, much weaker and much quieter than before.

"Let this be an example to all the other devils." With a grabbing motion in his hands, the Valac felt his brain get crushed, instantly killing him.

Next to his corpse, the servant was also killed instantly, neither of them having any chance to fight back.

"Now then…" The man muttered as tendrils of water picked up the two corpses. "I wonder what Yasaka made for dinner."

He opened up a magic circle, and disappeared through it, along with the two corpses.

…

 **Time Skip (One Year Later)**

Laverus sat back in his chair after sending a message to one of Kuoh's two overseers, letting her know that he would be visiting.

He would arrive in two days, to discuss their… negligence of watching the town properly and allowing people to die by not taking care of a certain problem.

While he had indeed sensed those fallen angels in the town, he believed that, as it was under their jurisdiction, those two would take care of it.

They didn't. While they had rented the town for their own lives, they would be in charge of it- any problems concerning the people would be their responsibility.

As ordered by Tsukuyomi, he would give them one more day to night cycle to finish the problem after alerting both of the governors of Kuoh.

Honestly, he had no intention of sending a message to the other overseer, Laverus didn't really like her at all. So he told the more logical devil to alert the other, more emotionally-driven one.

"Do I stay here and babysit your child and grandchild, or do I go with you and get a chance to see a fight?"

Laverus, brushing a stray lock his hair behind his shoulder, turned to see Crom Cruach, the strongest evil dragon leaning on a wall, staring at him.

He was a tall wearing a black coat with a mixture of black and blonde hairs as well as heterochromatic eyes- his right eye gold and his left eye black.

"That's your choice. I don't want to control you or your actions." Laverus replied as he played with a sphere of water, randomly changing its shape every few seconds.

Crom Cruach rose an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be doing that, as a king and all?"

Laverus shrugged. "I'm different from the rest of my kind. I don't work the same way they do."

Crom Cruach merely hummed in reply, before pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning on and walking up to his room.

"Otou-sama."

A woman with a voluptuous figure, long blonde hair and matching eyes dressed in shrine maiden attire walked into the room, holding a tray of tea and snacks.

"Yasaka." Laverus nodded at her in greeting. "Aren't you supposed to be working right now?"

Yasaka shook her head. "I'm taking a small break right now. What about you, otou-sama? Are you going to be leaving Kyoto for a while?"

"I am." Laverus nodded. "Some devils have been very negligent in their duties. It might be a small while before we see each other again. I'll be leaving Kyoto in your hands."

"Oh, that's great!" Yasaka's smile grew a little bigger. "Lady Amaterasu asked if you could go there and talk to the devils about the territory. They let innocent people die several times now, and she wants you to do something about it and report back to her."

"I'll do what I can. Does she have any extra orders for me, in case negotiations break down?"

"Yup." The blonde leader nodded. "She said that the Shinto Faction would assign you to be the new governor of the area."

"Alright then. I'll make sure to tell them that." Laverus then sighed. "Bloody devils. This new bunch of brats simply can't be trusted."

Yasaka giggled a little. "You don't really like them, do you, otou-sama?"

"No, I don't." He scoffed. "Since the Nekomata Genocide, I haven't. They gave an apology to me, but not to the Youkai or Shinto. Then there are the ones that ignore the order of staying put in the holes they come crawling out of.

Anyway, assuming that I fail with negotiations, can you please make sure that the youkai are safe from devils?"

"Of course, otou-sama. When will you be leaving?"

"In two days." The devil replied. "Do you want anything done before then, Yasaka?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, otou-sama. But thank you for offering."

"Alright. I'll be going outside to keep watch, then."

After seeing Yasaka's nod, he turned his body into water and flew out of an open window.

 **Scene Change - Kuoh Academy**

"Rias, are you going to be dealing with the fallen angels that are in Kuoh right now?" A bespectacled teenage female asked her friend.

"I will, Sona." The other young lady replied. "I've reincarnated Issei already, and I have information that they'll be bringing in another sacred gear user to them, so they'll only be here a little while longer. I'll deal with them, don't worry."

"Well then you'd better do so quickly. A devil will be arriving here soon to talk about our negligence of taking care of the citizens in this area."

"What? When?"

"Two days. He'll be a representative of the Shinto Pantheon, and my elder sister, as much as it surprised me, strictly instructed me not to make light of his strength."

"But two days isn't enough time!" The young lady with crimson hair exclaimed worriedly. "Can't you hold them off for at least another day?"

"I can't. He said that we've let too many innocents die already, and won't waste anymore time to make sure that no one else will be involved in our negligence."

"..."

"Rias, I know you're desperate, but your best bet will be to deal with the fallen angels right now. I'll help you, so-"

"I can't Sona. I'll take my chances. It's going to be soon, and I can't afford to take any chances!"

"...If you say so. Just remember, two days."


	2. Chapter 2

**Greatest Devil**

 _ **ARC 2**_

 _Chapter 2:_ _**Meetings**_

 **Time Skip (Two Days Later)**

Rias Gremory and her peerage, alongside Sona Sitri and her queen, Tsubaki Shinra stood in the old school building's Occult Research Club.

Issei, the newest member of Rias Gremory's peerage and her pawn, taking all eight pieces, had already been informed of his developments.

It was quite a shock to him, but he got over things and accepted his new life fairly quickly.

He has already taken a liking to his new life, though having to do contracts was… less than favourable.

Even still, he did what he could to be a good devil, and to get promoted quickly to high class. Then, he'd be able to start building his harem!

After school, he was introduced to the student council president and her queen, and was told that the student council itself was also comprised of devils.

Soon enough, the mystery visitor arrived. In front of the door, a magic circle appeared, casting a blue light in all directions.

In a flash, Laverus stood in front of the devils in the room, his body covered by a dark blue cloak.

"My greetings to you, young Gremory, young Sitri."

Issei turned to his king, the buxom-figured, crimson haired Rias Gremory. "Who the heck is this guy?"

"That is our guest. His name is Laverus, but he does not have a last name." She replied, before turning to the guest of honour and motioning to one of the couches. "Please, take a seat."

…

Now, the two young heiresses sat on the opposite couch of the one occupied by Laverus. Their peerages stood behind them.

"As I'm sure you're aware," Laverus sipped the tea given to him by Akeno. "I'm here on behalf of the Shinto Pantheon to discuss your negligent watch over Kuoh. Would you please explain your action, or rather, the lack of action?"

Honestly, neither of the young devils had an appropriate answer.

"We didn't know that there were fallen angels in this town." Rias lied through her teeth. "When we found out, we didn't find where they were hiding."

Laverus shook his head. "That's a lie. I can hear your heartbeat increase as you said that. Tell me the truth. Why did you allow innocent people to die?"

"Hey!" Issei took a step forward angrily glaring at the elder devil. "Buchou wouldn't let people die! She saved me from almost certain death!"

Rias winced, but only Laverus and Sona noticed.

"She did indeed save you, yes. But she only did so because you have a sacred gear. After all, you have a longinus sacred gear sealed within you. Who would pass that up?"

"She would've have saved me anyway!"

"Is that so? Fallen angels have been around this town for at least half a month, now. If she had dealt with them immediately, you wouldn't have needed saving. Excluding you, more than five others have died."

The brown haired teen shook his head. "That's a lie! How'd you even know?!"

"Urata Noriaki. Fujimori Togai. Nii Fusa. Takahara Raicho. Kai Shirosama." Laverus listed. "Tell, me. How did these people die?"

Issei sported a confused frown. "They died unnaturally. No one knows how or why they died. How's that relevant?"

"Do you not find it weird? All those people suddenly kicking the bucket, and no one to explain them? They all had gaping holes in their corpses. Similar to the one your killer gave to you."

"..."

"There's also the fact that she had shown you a picture of your 'girlfriend' on her date with you. Tell me, what reason did she have for stalking you? Don't you find her timely arrival suspicious?"

"May we please get back to the reason for your visit, Laverus-san?" Sona interjected. "I'd rather not waste any more time."

Rias sent her friend a grateful look, before turning towards Laverus, who nodded.

"Very well then. I'd like to know the _real_ reason you left them to their unfortunate fates. Young Gremory I understand, she's spoiled rotten. But young Sitri, what were your goals in all of this?"

Rias glared at the man, who simply ignored her in favour of raising an eyebrow towards Sona.

"Did you have something to gain from your clients' deaths? You had recently reincarnated Saji Genshirou, but he was not involved in any fallen angel affairs."

Sona merely looked towards her lap in contemplation for a second, before sighing and looking into Laverus' eyes, her face stoic as ever.

"Rias said that she would deal with the fallen angels, so I trusted her."

"Sona!"

"What would you like me to say, Rias?" The Sitri heiress narrowed her eyes a little as she sent a sideways glance at her longtime friend. "We can't lie to him. He'd detect it immediately. Isn't that right?

... _Laverus?_ "

The way she said his name implied that she knew exactly who he is.

Laverus blinked. "Did that girl tell you about me?"

"She did." Sona nodded. "She told me about your heritage, how you saved her life at one point in the Great War and… her near death experience when she fought you."

"I didn't know I left such an impression on her."

"I almost didn't believe it myself. Someone as powerful as her is only alive today because you chose to spare her. I thank you for that."

"You're welcome I guess." The blue haired man shrugged. "Anyway, young Sitri, I express my disappointment in you. I expected more from one of Maya's descendants."

Sona nodded with closed eyes. "My apologies. I'll be sure to act myself next time."

Laverus nodded, before turning to Rias. He'd accept that answer from her for now.

"Well, young Gremory? What were your reasons?"

Rias gritted her teeth. "I… I thought that they were here to negotiate something. So I waited for them to come to me, but they didn't."

"You still waited even after two weeks had passed?" He narrowed his eyes. "I find that quite hard to believe. Not only that- if they were here to negotiate something, they'd send a message to you prior to their arrival."

He then narrowed his eyes further, almost glaring at the redhead. "One last time. _Tell me the truth._ Why did you allow them to run amok? Last I checked, this town does not belong to you."

"I didn't know that they were going to do anything! If I just killed them, then I might have restarted the Great War!" Rias flared a bit of her power as she finished her sentence.

This did not impress Laverus one bit, and only served to annoy him further. He sighed in resignation.

"Very well then." Rias relaxed a little. "Do not say I didn't warn you. Send a message to your kings. Tell them that the Shinto Pantheon is retaking governance of this town."

Everyone in the room except for Laverus himself widened their eyes.

"You can't do that!" The Gremory heiress stood up threateningly. "My brother bought this town from them, you can't just take it back whenever you please!"

Laverus shook his head. "Then that boy lied to you. He merely rented it for you under very certain terms and conditions. Apparently, he didn't read the fine print, saying that we can take back the town if one or both of you fail to uphold those terms."

"If I may, Laverus-san?" Sona cut it. "If you are retaking control of this town, that means that as of this moment, we are intruding. May we renegotiate terms so that we may continue to stay?"

"You may." He nodded. "I'd like to renegotiate with Serafall Leviathan, as she is in charge of foreign affairs. Until then, you're allowed to stay here."

"Thank you very much." The bespectacled girl stood up and bowed alongside her queen. "I appreciate your generosity."

"Wait, then my brother is coming as well!" Rias interjected. "This involves devils, and since he's in charge of internal affairs, he should also be involved in the negotiations!"

"If it gets you to shut up." Laverus muttered. "Remember- if negotiations fail, all of you will have to return."

"Oi!" Issei snapped. "Buchou has been living here for years now! You can't just kick her out! Besides, I've been here my entire life! What can you tell my family if you-"

"I don't need to say anything to anyone." Laverus cut him off "Remember, it's your king that has caused this mess to begin with. Don't worry, I'll go easy on the diplomacy."

He then turned to Sona. "One week is the limit. Please make sure that your elder sister gets here within that time frame."

Standing up, he created a magic circle beneath his feet. "Make sure those fallen angels are at least dealt with before this day ends."

With that final message, Laverus disappeared from the room in a flash of light, throwing the room into silence.

"Umm… Buchou?" Issei spoke up. "About what he said, you allowing people to die… That's not true, right?"

Rias looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, Issei. But I'm desperate. I need strength. I'm going to be married to someone I don't like, and to break myself out of it, I need your help. Please, help me."

The reincarnated devil frowned. "I need… Some time to myself. I want to think this through first."

Seeing Rias' nod, he walked out of the clubroom.

"We will be going as well." Sona said. "I'll be contacting my sister. Let's hope she can work something out."

 **Time Skip (Five Days Later)**

"I believe I don't have to explain why we are here now?" Laverus asked.

On the opposite side of his couch, Sirzechs Lucifer and Serafall Leviathan sat, both adorning serious faces- something quite rare for both of them. Behind them stood Rias and Sona.

Sirzechs shook his head. "No, you do not. Our little sisters informed us already."

Laverus nodded. "That saves some time then. To start off, we wish to know why you believe that those two should have a second chance."

"Well, they're both young and can sometimes make some irrational decisions." Sirzechs started. "They don't have much experience in governing, so mistakes are bound to be made."

"There's also the fact that we could bring our factions closer if you give them this chance." Serafall suggested.

Laverus narrowed his eyes. "Then tell me- what can we hope to gain from a good relationship with the devils? Can we expect you not to order a genocide on one of our species?"

They all knew what he was implying with that question.

Sirzechs nodded firmly. "I swear on my name that we won't order any genocide on any youkai race ever again."

While the Nekomata and Nekoshou had a massive loss in numbers, it wasn't as big as it could have been, thanks to the timely intervention of Laverus.

The devils themselves had suffered a large blow, when Laverus decided to drop into the underworld and mass murder a portion of their population.

No one had proof it was Laverus, since all the 'corpses' seemed like they internally exploded, but the elder devils knew from their hearts that he was responsible.

The younger devils and reincarnated devils were kept in the dark.

Another incident like that was not something anyone wanted a repeat of.

"Very well then." Laverus nodded. "We'll allow that second chance. However, we'll be adding a few more terms and another condition as well."

Serafall nodded before Sirzechs could say anything. "Please state them."

"1; I will stay and watch over the town to ensure that the young heirs are doing their job properly. 2; Any devil coming to Kuoh _must_ give me advance notice. Finally- 3; Anything relating to diplomacy with other factions must be overseen by me."

Sirzechs frowned. This was going to limit his sister's ability to run things freely, but if she could still reside over the town and govern it, he wasn't in a position to really complain.

"Do you agree to these extra terms?" He turned his head to his little sister and her friend.

They both nod wordlessly in reply after a moment to think.

Seeing this, Serafall nodded. "Very well. We accept your terms. What about your extra condition?"

Laverus smiled. Neither of the two devil leaders liked that. "Whatever it is we do with stray devils, turn a blind eye to all of them."

Sirzechs frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. We do what we want with any stray devil that we find, and wish for you to ignore us and mind your own business."

"Besides," He then shrugged. "They'll be stray devils, so I don't see any reason for you to complain."

Serafall turned to Sirzechs to hear his thoughts on the matter. This was an issue seriously relating to their internal affairs.

They both knew Laverus' dangerous experiments. He had, after all, found a way to create sacred gears from studying deceased wielders. Who knows what he would do with live guinea pigs.

Especially if those guinea pigs had evil pieces in them…

While stray devils are technically criminals, they are still devils. They can still be reformed into their society, but if the man in front of him had anything to say about that, there's no telling what he could and would do.

Still, even knowing the risks of allowing someone like this man before him to study, dissect and experiment on his own people, he'd sacrifice anything for his sister.

"Very well then. We agree to your condition."

Laverus' smile turned cruel. "Very well then. I hereby appoint Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri as the governors of Kuoh town and all its inhabitants."

"Thank you." Serafall bowed her head a little. "Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"Nothing comes to mind. Thank you both for your time."

"Then I shall take my leave." Sirzechs stood up and disappeared into his magic circle, while Serafall stayed silent in her seat.

After a moment of silence…

"Alright! Now let's go on a date, Lav-chan!" She jumped out of her seat, pumping her fists into the sky. "It's been so long since I've seen you! We should hang out together!"

Laverus shook his head. "I'll pass, thanks. It would not look well for either of our factions if we suddenly got too close."

"Boo!" Her smile turned into a pout. "You're so uptight and formal! What's wrong with hanging out like friends? We're both devils anyway, so it doesn't matter!"

"Umm… Serafall-sama?" Rias cut in. "Are you friends with him?"

"Yeah!" She nodded enthusiastically. "We're friends ever since he saved my life! Then we started hanging out together. The last time we saw each other was when he almost killed me."

"Wait, w-what?!"

"Yeah! He whooped my ass so easily, too! Like, with no effort whatsoever!"

"To be fair, you two gave me a half-decent fight at the very least." Laverus remarked.

Rias looked shocked that Laverus, who she had never even heard of before, had so easily defeated the strongest woman in the underworld.

Sona already knew this, since Serafall had drilled it into her head that if she was to ever meet Laverus, she would need to tread carefully.

"Anyway." The male devil stood up. "I'm going to report to the Shinto Pantheon. You two, tell your peerages that you're allowed to stay. Serafall, don't follow me."

Serafall was not pleased. "Mmph! Okay, fine…"

Sona bowed. "Thank you very much, Laverus-san."

Rias nodded, but didn't say anything.

Seeing this, Laverus opened his magic circle beneath his feet and teleported away towards Takamagahara.

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

I'm gonna be honest, the support I received for chapter one was just mind-blowing.

Thank you all so much for either reviewing, favoriting or following!

I've always wondered just what authors feel when they know that they have an audience that enjoys what they write, and now I know exactly how they feel.

Once again, thank you all so much~

On a side note, I'm really sorry if these chapters feel too short for your liking, or if it's too short for the time it takes to update.

Next chapter- Riser appears, Laverus' full name and status revealed~

Oh, and they end up having a fight. You all know the outcome. After all, since when has an overpowered/godlike OC end up losing to him

One more thing, if you do not appreciate/like Rias bashing and a small amount of Sirzechs bashing, I recommend you use extreme caution next chapter. Thank you. On to reviews:

MetaPenguin: Great start to a hopefully great story. I just have one question. How slow are the updates?

Re: I can't guarantee that I'll be posting updates soon for you, as school has started back up, but thank you for the support, hopefully I won't let you down.

CrimsonDragonGodEMPEROR: Hope you update soon

Re: Here you are~

EazyFade: Interesting story, but who is Yasaka's mother and how slow are the updates.

Re: Sorry for being unoriginal, but Laverus adopted Yasaka when he went to visit Kyoto. As for your second question, I'm honestly not sure, sorry :(

Also; new review replies (sorry for updating out of nowhere like this and getting your hopes up):

Sovereign2808: I like the premise of the story - very much so, indeed.

Why? Because it shows the other side of the devils arrogance and machinations. And with Laverius somebody actively does something against the devils that think they can waltz in and subjugate whomever they want.

I can also live with how Rias is protrayed. I imagine for an author how to present her is quite malleable because it is easy to see her as a 'bad' guy because of some of her machinations (e.g. letting Issei die).

What I wonder is if there was any direct fallout from the Nekoshou massacre for the devils other than the unproven slaughter of some devils. That they leased out Kuoh to the devils anyway implies otherwise.  
And if Laverus keept Kyoto save from devils looking for peerage members. Who will do so now? Or where is previous actions deterrent enough for devils not to try anything (there are always the overambitious ones)

Anyway, looking forward to see more of this.

Cheers

Re: Thank you for reviewing- I like hearing why people like my story, to know what I'm doing right and maybe what I'm doing wrong. Hopefully I can keep up this standard for the rest of the story.

To answer your question of who would keep Kyoto safe, it has to do with why Laverus is so OP. He can legitimately clone himself. Not only that, take a quick peek back at chapter 1; Crom Cruach is hanging around, and can keep Kyoto safe in his stead.

Mythic Imagination: Awesome chapter. Always thought the Shinto Pantheon and Youkai Faction in DxD were portrayed more as pushovers. I mean I've never learnt what they got out of lending/giving Kuoh to the Devils when all the Shinto have is Japan while the Devils have the majority of the Underworld. Can't wait for the next chapter :)

Re: Thank you- I myself hope I can get it done soon~

Dragonsayianblue:Cooleo. Love these type of story. How the arrogant devils get knocked down a peg. Also the mc cool but I wonder how did the youki and Shinto faction find him and recruit him if is a devil.

Re: For some reason, I can't find you on the reviews page, but luckily my email helped out. To answer your curiosity, the Youkai and Shinto didn't really 'recruit' him, he just volunteered himself as something of an operative for them. The reason for this had something to do with the Nekomata Genocide.

Next story chapter progress: I'm estimating it's one-third done.


	3. Chapter 3

**Greatest Devil**

 _ **ARC 2**_

 _Chapter 3:_ _**Riser**_

"So from now on, I'll be constantly patrolling Kuoh to make sure you are all behaving appropriately. Understand?"

Laverus' question was met with a round of nods from the Occult Research Club members, though Rias looked very annoyed.

"Issei Hyoudou." He then turned to the teen standing to the side. "I hope you understand that while your king did indeed _need your strength,_ the way she attained your power seemed like she only _wanted more power_. As you were and still are a Japanese citizen, your life should have been protected by us, the Shinto Pantheon. For allowing the young Gremory to play with your life and reincarnate you without your say in the matter, you have our apologies."

"I didn't _play_ with his life!" Rias yelled before Issei could respond. "I really do need him!"

Laverus glared at her. "Silence, young Gremory. I am talking to the recently-turned devil. Not to the spoiled descendant of Tair Gremory."

"I've had enough with you calling me spoiled!" Rias once again allowed a bit of her power to flow out of her threateningly. "What makes you think I'm spoiled at all?!"

"You never train, that's one thing. You've always been given this and that, while others, especially the descendant of Zekram Bael, work hard to even be looked at. Your brother puts you before even his people, which is not something a leader does. Quite frankly, I don't trust you. Do you want to know why?"

He then took a glance at her peerage, who were outright glaring at him.

"Look at them all." He motioned to them. "We'll start with Kiba Yuuto. He was still in church territory when you appeared. What were you doing there with ZERO guards? Surely the little sister of ' _Lucifer'_ couldn't have just up and disappeared by herself with no protection Then there's the hybrid in the room. How did you just _appear_ in that forest as such a young child? Once again, with no guards. The half vampire? Same story. Whitey over there was just dropped on you. And apparently, the _ESTEEMED_ and _WISE_ devil kings just took her testimony over actually INVESTIGATING why Kuroka had killed her master. Even the 'smartest' devil king didn't object to exterminating a race that was not involved in the whole incident. I mean, she was a reincarnated DEVIL, therefore, she was under THEIR jurisdiction."

He then took a few deep breaths. "What I'm trying to say here, is that your whole peerage and their reincarnation circumstances are suspicious, making you seem like some hero or savior."

By now, Rias' peerage was completely outraged by this man. He just questioned whether their king's loyalty and love was only for her convenience.

Was it? No. Her love and care was too much to be false. She genuinely cared for them- no doubt about that.

"That's why I believe you're spoiled. Everything you wanted, you got it. You got your peerage because that _boy_ had pointed you in their directions. He knew what was happening to them, but didn't bother trying to help. Instead, you were the one that benefited. What a fool he was. Ever since the wars have ended, what has he done for the devils? Laze around, dote on his sister and cater to her every need? He never should have been a king. Honestly, the original Lucifer would be better than him. At least he made the devil race _feared_."

Rias gritted her teeth and prepared her power of destruction, coating her hands in the powerful yet highly unstable energy. How dare this man insult her brother!

Spurred on by their king's action, the rest of the peerage, save for Issei, readied for battle. The brown haired teen didn't know what to do.

Was what Laverus saying true? Was his king really just a spoiled person? He was, after all, recently involved in what could possibly a scheme of hers.

As a reincarnated devil, it was his obligation to fight- if necessary- alongside his master, but as a person, is it really right to hurt someone who hadn't done anything wrong?

Before the situation could escalate, however, Laverus sighed. "Sorry about that." He offered. "I've been meaning to get that off my chest for a long, long time now."

Rias didn't look convinced by his apology, but after a moment of consideration, she let him off. He had almost killed Serafall Leviathan, the strongest female devil, after all, so she knew not to mess with him.

Sure, he might have just finished off what another had started in regards to trying to defeat the female devil king, but to have even gotten close to her is worthy of at least some praise.

She dissipated her power of destruction and sighed. "It's fine, I guess. But I'll have you know that I have never reincarnated any of my servants with the intention of exploiting their power for myself."

Laverus' eyes shot to Issei, knowing that Rias could see the movement of his ocular organs, before he nodded.

"If you don't do this again, then you'll be fine. Just remember, I don't give third chances. You understand, don't you?"

The male devil's eyes narrowed a little, his tone taking a bit of a sharper edge to it, enhancing his intimidation on the young heiress and her peerage.

"Well Issei Hyoudou?" Laverus then turned back to the young devil, his relaxed personality once again taking hold. "I want you to make sure you're resolute about your decision. Will you serve Rias Gremory, the heiress of the Gremory clan?"

Issei frowned as he thought on the question. Sure, she reincarnated him without his say, but is he really that upset about his new life?

Yes, _serving_ someone is naturally a repulsive thought- but Rias seemed like she treated her servants nicely. After all, Akeno, Kiba and Koneko only really reacted when Laverus questioned Rias' love and care towards her peerage.

That meant that he was saying something that was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, _false_ about her- so she really must be a nice master.

But then again, allowing someone to die simply because she _needed_ them was just wrong. She could have just approached him, explained her situation and ask for his allegiance.

She didn't do that. Instead, she waited until his life was virtually unsavable by human standards before she stepped in and 'saved' him. In fact, she may have forcefully _enslaved_ him if he didn't want to be a reincarnated devil.

But did he really hate that? Despite what she did, she technically told the truth. Devils _can_ have harems if they want. Sure, she left out the fact that it was actually quite difficult to get to High Class when starting at the very bottom, but then again- he didn't ask.

Rias and the other members of her peerage looked on expectantly and even a little anxiously. Rias herself knew that if Issei were to raise an objection on being a member of her household, she may not have a chance out of _that_.

After another minute of heavy thinking, Issei finally nodded resolutely. "I… will continue to be a member of senpai's peerage. She seems like a nice master, and… I guess it's just in my nature to help out those in need."

"Issei…" Rias breathed out gratefully with a smile that was mimicked by the rest of the peerage.

"Alright then." Laverus nodded. "Though you should know something about that… _goal_ of yours. The pure blood devils will do virtually everything in their power to make sure you never get to high class status. But I can tell- you will let nothing get in your way of your dream. Maybe you can change them. I wish you luck. Well then, I'll be off. Remember; behave."

He then stood up and once again left in a flash of light, leaving the occult research club to truly welcome their new member.

* * *

 **One Day Later…**

Laverus zoomed through the air.

His body, once it was turned into water, completely vaporized itself to be able to move unseen.

Once he was within Kuoh Academy grounds, specific molecules in the air quickly formed together, and through chemistry, turned into a human body-sized blob of water.

Laverus' consciousness ordered his liquified body to smash into the clubroom of the Occult Research Club through the window.

As the glass shattered- catching everyone inside off-guard- the water then transformed back into their original state; Laverus' solid body.

He landed on one knee and a hand on the ground. His hair shadowed his eyes, which, somehow, made him look even more threatening and intimidating.

"As you can see, I am very agitated right now." He growled out slowly. "You spoiled devils seem to have a _very_ poor memory. That, or you somehow can't follow instructions because you are such a _goddess_ that you should _never_ be told what to do. Gremory, you make me absolutely _sick_."

He stood up and flared off his power, which was much more than enough to make everyone in the room- sans a grey-haired maid- take a few steps back.

"Not only did you _completely_ disregard one of the new terms that we had set, you've brought in a high class devil- a Phenex- _and_ Grayfia Lucifuge- an ultimate class devil."

Sharp water spears flared to life around Laverus' body, pointing directly at every other devil in the room. The water flowed back and forth, yet securely kept its shape.

"So tell me, Lucifuge." He narrowed his eyes dangerously at Grayfia. "What does the lapdog of the _esteemed_ Crimson Satan want here?

 _ **Trying to take over?**_ "

"N-no, I-"

"Hey, who are you?! Rudely barging into a very important meeting, as expected of a low class worm!"

While Grayfia- the maid- made to reply politely, a blonde-haired man- who Laverus identified as Riser Phenex- rudely yelled at the ancient devil.

Grayfia widened her eyes in fear, something that Rias and her peerage caught. "Lord Riser, I ask that you-"

"You have no place in here, get out!" The blonde Phenex devil ignored her and prepared a ball of fire in his palm. "Leave now, and Riser might consider letting even a pathetic fool like you live!"

"Lord Riser!" Grayfia snapped angrily. "You will _not_ threaten this man- he is entire leagues above you!"

"What?! Are you saying that this piece of trash is stronger than the great Riser?" Riser's eyebrows wrinkled in disgust at the mere thought of it.

"Believe me lord Riser, you cannot even get close to him." The ultimate class devil then turned to Laverus, who was contemplating whether he should eradicate a Phenex or not, and bowed deeply. "My deepest apologies for his behaviour, milord. Please forgive our intrusion."

Riser, Rias and her peerage- excluding Issei- noted the way she spoke to him. Not even Sirzechs was treated with _this_ much respect.

"I don't care how he talks to me." A sphere of water appeared beside the blue haired devil. "I want to know why you are both here, _without our permission._ "

"Lord Riser is here to discuss a marriage contract with lady Rias. Due to his arrogance and short temper, my king sent me here as a mediator in case they resort to violence to sort out their disagreements. Once again, I deeply apologise for not alerting you beforehand, milord. I'll make sure it won't happen again."

Throughout her explanation, Grayfia did not once raise her head from looking at the ground in front of her, nor did she move.

"Fine then." Laverus sighed, dissipating the water he created. "Be at ease. Just make sure that you get my permission next time, or I _will_ exterminate _stray_ devils."

As Rias watched on anxiously, Riser snorted. "Since when did Riser need anyone's permission to enter one of _our_ lands, low class scum?" He asked. "Quite frankly, Riser's surprised we haven't taken over Japan yet. We could give all the women a good time." He finished with a smirk.

"Lord Riser!"

Laverus ignored Grayfia, glaring at Riser. "You'd do well to watch your tongue, descendent of Roza Phenex. Your words could cause a war with us."

"That is enough!" The queen of Sirzechs flared her power, reminding most of the devils why she is the strongest queen. "Lord Riser, you _will_ refrain from calling milord a 'low class scum'. Milord, please do not threaten one of our own or I'll have no choice but to step in."

"Of course." Riser grumbled, reluctantly dissipating the ball of fire in his palm. "If the strongest queen says so, even the great Riser will back down."

Laverus, though, wasn't so quick to back off. "You must be disillusioned to think that you could _force_ me to do anything, _girl_. Remember, you are one of _my_ servants first and foremost, not the other way around. Or…"

His lips then rose up into a small, yet cruel smile. "Do you think you could best me in battle, Lucifuge? Surely you haven't forgotten how badly I tore apart my enemies?"

Grayfia stiffened, her eyes losing their sharpness and replaced with nervousness. Laverus, who saw this up close, widened his smile.

"Good." He nodded. "You haven't forgotten. If that is the case, then you'd do well to watch what you say to your master, little girl."

"Yes, milord."

"U-umm, Grayfia." Rias, seeing a lull in their conversation, spoke up. "Do you know him as well? What's all this about you being his servant?"

Before Grayfia could reply, Riser once again cut in. "Probably some lie to make himself look powerful."

"Silence, child, before I eradicate both you and your pathetic family. The only saving grace you arrogant birds have are Roza and your Phoenix Tears."

Laverus then put a finger to his chin innocently. "You know, now that I think about it, your little sister could be incredibly useful to us. Breeding Ravel Phenex, a prominent member of the Phenex clan with the ability to use senjutsu. Maybe I'll take her myself."

"How dare you!" Without thinking, Riser let loose a fireball at Laverus. "I'll teach you about even _thinking_ of taking someone from the proud Phenex clan!"

The fireball completely evaporated before it got past two feet as everyone felt the temperature decrease to levels reaching absolute zero, though only for a split second.

"Pathetic." Laverus scoffed. "Roza's flames are godlike when compared to the pitiful embers that you call 'fire'."

"Why you little-!"

"Enough, lord Riser! I will not tolerate anymore of your arrogance! Continue your course of action, and I will step in against you." This time, Grayfia bursted more of her power to further reinforce her threat.

After seeing that he stepped down, albeit angrily, Grayfia toned down her power and turned to Rias. "To answer your question, lady Rias, I was indeed lord Laverus' servant for the better half of the Devil Civil War."

"You really were… his servant?" Issei, despite the situation, couldn't help but let a small trail of blood escape his nose at the thought of… less than savoury images entering his mind.

"I was, yes." Grayfia nodded, acting completely oblivious to what she knew Issei was thinking. "Though I didn't do much for him. All I did was teach him everything I knew about ice magic."

"But wait." Rias frowned in thought. "I thought that the Lucifuge clan only served the Lucifer family. So does that mean…"

As she trailed off, she fearfully gazed at Laverus.

Seeing her freightful stare, Laverus shook his head. "While Laverus Lucifer does have something of a ring to it, I am not a Lucifer. A Lucifer did use her to bribe me into his side, however. Seeing that ice is a domain of water, I figured that she could help me in that field. I myself thought that being able to use ice magic would benefit me in the long run."

Rias breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Laverus isn't a descendent of a devil king. Especially not a Lucifer. Then again, she'd have known if Lucifer- the Morning Star- had another son.

"Of course." Riser scoffed. "Probably not a descendent of anyone noteworthy. Even if you are, Riser bets you're just some backwater loser."

"Really?" Laverus rose a curious eyebrow. "You think I'm just a 'backwater loser'?"

Grayfia regained her strict face, and made to silence Riser before he said anything that could damn the devil race, but the look Laverus sent her told her not to step in.

"What else would you be?" The Phenex asked rhetorically. "Riser has no idea who you are until you rudely barged in here. Surely Riser would have heard of you by now if you were a master of the strongest queen at one point."

He then smirked arrogantly- his signature smirk. "Who's to say this isn't just some farce? There is honestly no way Riser would not have heard of you if you were as powerful as you make yourself out to be."

Laverus once again smiled cruelly, which was never a good sign. In Grayfia's head, alarm bells were ringing and red flags were being raised.

"If you need to demonstration of my abilities, then come at me. Show me just how 'powerful' the Phenex clan has become after Roza gave up her position as the matriarch of the Phenex."

Riser looked towards Grayfia, who- after a cautious glance at her former master- nodded slowly.

Seeing that, Riser unleashed his full power, wings of fire bursting to life behind him. This man was just asking for it, after all.

"Haaaaaa!" With a battle cry, he burst towards the cloak-wearing devil with a flame coated fist.

But before he could even see what had happened in a mere split second, he was on the ground, his torso separated from his lower body.

Everyone in the room- excluding Grayfia, who had been expecting this result- looked stupefied at how quickly Riser was brought down. They couldn't even see what he did!

Riser himself was gaping his mouth as he lied on the ground. He just disappeared, and the next thing he knew, his body- or at least half of it- was just lying on the ground.

He gritted his teeth- already in annoyance- and after a few seconds, his lower body was regenerated in a blaze of flames.

Off to the side, Issei widened his eyes at the scene. Was _this_ how powerful devils could be?!

He knew the answer. No.

Devils could be far more powerful than this. Laverus did mention that someone named Roza was much more powerful, if the comparison of flames was anything to go by.

Issei guessed it was some hot woman he could add to his harem when he got his peerage.

But back to the point- if _this_ is how devils fight, then he clearly overestimated himself.

When that douchebag just appeared, he knew right from the get-go that the blonde devil was the source of Rias' problems and her desperation for strength.

He thought that if he just beat Riser black and blue, all the problems would be solved. Rias would be happy, and everyone would live happily ever after.

But if he could regenerate like this, then…

After finally getting up, Riser threw a massive ball of the hottest flames he could muster. He wasn't going to fight close and personal if Laverus could do whatever it is he did to him.

But once again, with another massive drop in temperature, it just evaporated into the air.

Laverus then took his turn- speeding towards Riser at speeds not even Grayfia could follow, and sliced off Riser's arm with a blade of water that he had formed.

Clicking his tongue, Riser ignored the pain in his right arm- it would just regenerate anyway- and backed away a few steps from Laverus, who calmly created a sphere of water in an open palm, and- almost lazily- threw it at the blonde devil.

In response, Riser once again created the biggest and hottest fireball he could, and threw it towards Laverus.

Instead of evaporating the water like he thought would happen, however, Riser's fire just parted way for the small sphere of water, which was now formed into a dagger.

A dagger that cleanly sliced through his left arm.

Riser growled at the pain and loss of his left arm, but figured that his other arm would have regenerated by now.

He raised his right arm, but then realised the lack of any movement. He looked down at his right shoulder in confusion, and widened his eyes seeing nothing but an empty stump in the place of his arm.

There was no fire, no regeneration. It was as if…

"Finally figured it out?" Laverus goaded. "Yes. I nullified your Phenex regeneration. You are nothing in the face of true power, young Phenex. Not even Roza- the strongest Phenex- was a threat to me. What could you possibly do against me?"

"You bastard!" The armless devil screamed. "What did you do to me?! How did you stop the great regeneration of the Phenex clan?!"

"I won't tell you, but I'll give you a hint." Laverus smiled victoriously. "It's a _Longinus_ **.** "

Everyone else in the room widened their eyes. Laverus was a full-blooded devil, wasn't he? How can he have a sacred gear?! Least of all a Longinus class sacred gear?!

"But that's impossible! If you aren't a human, then you _can't_ have a sacred gear!" Rias was the only person who vocalised the thought. "Are you a half-human?!"

"Why would I just tell you? That's personal information you're asking for."

Rias, at this point, knew that one wrong word or demand to him could legitimately lead to death, so she she didn't bother trying to press on.

Even she couldn't beat Riser. If this man could so easily render her fiance _this_ powerless, there would be no chance she could fight him.

Laverus then turned to the still armless Riser. "Now then, young Phenex. Do you still think I'm just some backwater loser?"

There was no answer. Riser wouldn't risk losing another limb. If Laverus could stop regeneration of the arms, who's to say he can't go another step further and legitimately kill him?

"I can still see you doubt I'm a noble." Laverus smirked, seeing Riser stiffen. "So I guess you can all learn my true name. Lucifuge. Tell them."

"Understood." Grayfia nodded and took a deep breath.

"This man's name is Laverus _Leviathan,_ son of the original devil king Leviathan. The first and most powerful Super Devil, and the strongest devil to have ever existed. He is rumoured to have regeneration capabilities surpassing even the Phenex clan."

As everyone else in the room widened their eyes, one thought rang out simultaneously in all of their minds.

' _Holy crap.'_

"That is not all." Grayfia continued. "He fought alongside the devils in the Great War, and is known as the Destroyer of Excalibur and the Slayer of-"

"Actually, don't tell them that one yet." Laverus cut in. "They're not ready to know that. Anyway, you all now know who I am." He narrowed his eyes a little. "If you all know, then I expect you all to shut up and take my presence here seriously. Especially you, descendent of Roza."

"Tch."

"W-wait!" Rias yelled with a disbelieving tone. "Strongest devil ever?! Are you saying that he's stronger than my brother?!"

"He is." Grayfia nodded. "In fact, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that he may be able to fight and destroy the entire devil faction by himself."

Laverus shook his head. "No, that's too much of an exaggeration. Maybe half of the purebloods alongside the four current devil kings and their peerages, I'm confident enough. But the rest are out of my league."

Rias was still very disbelieving of the fact that her brother wasn't the strongest devil in history. That was what she was basically conditioned to believe, after all.

But why did she have no idea who Laverus is? Was it because he was a member of the original Leviathan family, who were her brother's enemies at one point?

But even still she would have at least a name. After all, she knew who Rizevim Livan Lucifer is, and she also knew who Katerea Leviathan is. Why not Laverus Leviathan as well?

"So, wait, is this guy really that much of a big-shot?" Issei asked.

As a newly reincarnated devil who hadn't been taught anything by his master, Laverus supposed that it was a reasonable question.

"It is." Kiba spoke for the first time since the Leviathan arrived. "That puts him above even the four original devil kings, who were powerful enough to fight against God, at least for some time."

"There is no doubt he is powerful." Akeno nodded. "So much so, in fact, that even Grayfia-san, known as the 'Strongest Queen', may not be able to hold a candle to him since he is a Super Devil."

"Her position as the strongest queen is now debatable." Laverus glanced at Grayfia to see her reaction, one of curiosity. "I have used my queen piece to reincarnate someone very well known in the supernatural world, someone on par with a Heavenly Dragon."

He smirked and looked over to Issei. "You know who I'm talking about, don't you, Ddraig? I know you can hear me."

The Boosted Gear formed on Issei's left forearm. " **To think that you're still alive. I thought I burned you to death, Leviathan.** "

The Red Dragon Emperor's deep and intimidating voice rang out from the green jewel on the gauntlet.

"You did indeed. I was killed by your fire." Laverus nodded. "But I was able to turn my body into water before I died. Before your fire spread, I separated the burning water from the untouched ones, and reformed my body through them. So thank you, I found out about something else I could do."

"Oi, red dragon dude." Issei tapped the jewel with a finger. "Is this guy really that strong?"

" **He is.** " The red dragon replied. " **He was able to fight me for quite a while, before I finally caught him in my flames. I didn't think he survived. To answer your question, Leviathan, I do think I know who you're referring to. How did you convince him?** "

In the background, Grayfia stiffened as she suddenly realised who the two powerful beings were talking about.

It would seem that the Shinto-Youkai Alliance had now gotten even stronger.

Laverus shrugged. "He and I fought, I won, he wanted to get stronger and saw me as a worthy rival. That's all there is to it."

" **You won?** " Ddraig's voice was laced with thinly veiled surprise and curiosity. " **You barely stood your ground against me, so how did you defeat him? He's rumored to be as strong as Albion and I in our primes.** "

"That was before I learned ice magic, before I learned I could basically cheat death, before I learned senjutsu, youjutsu and touki. I'm quite confident I can at least give you a good fight if we were to battle once again. Maybe I would even defeat you."

" **Don't get ahead of yourself, Leviathan.** "

"You can use senjutsu? How?!" Koneko asked with widened eyes.

"Quite simple, kitten." The son of Leviathan waved his hand. "Kuro taught me, Yasaka taught me, and Monkey taught me. When you have ultimate class devil equivalents teaching you different aspects of senjutsu, it's quite easy to grasp."

"You shouldn't use it!" She exclaimed fearfully. "It drives you insane!"

Laverus sighed, shaking his head. "At least research something before you end up hurting yourself. One of these days, you'll find that you can't grow any stronger without it, kitten."

His words drove the youngest person in the room to silence. Probably because Koneko knew that he was right.

Issei was the only person in the room who was confused, while Rias didn't like the way Laverus just lectured her rook on her greatest fear. She already knew better than to voice anything, though.

"In any case, you'd better make sure this does not happen again." The second Leviathan glared at Grayfia. "Otherwise, you stray devils _will_ be eliminated without mercy. Tell that to your 'master', girl, or even that _false_ Lucifer will die to my hand."

"Yes, milord. I promise it will not happen again."

"Yeah, I haven't heard that one before." Laverus drawled sarcastically. "Next time, there won't be second chances. Just make sure you remember that."

Without waiting for a reply, the second Leviathan then turned his body into water and flew out of the broken window.

…

Grayfia breathed a sigh of relief when she knew it was safe to do so, before quickly glaring at Riser.

"Lord Riser, your words could have sparked a war. A war that we could not have won, leading to our extinction. No amount of my king's Ruin the Extinct could take down lord Laverus. Please reflect on your behaviour today."

Riser clicked his tongue, but nodded.

"Well damn." Issei drawled. "What was his title again? Destroyer of Excalibur? That guy sounds hardcore."

"He is." Kiba frowned. "Excalibur is the ultimate weapon against devils. For him to have actually _destroyed_ it is proof that he is worthy of the title 'Super Devil'."

As someone with a bad history with the Excaliburs, Kiba respected Laverus for his role in the destruction of the original blade.

"What's a Super Devil anyway?"

"Devils that have powers far surpassing the original devil kings." Rias answered. "They are so powerful, in fact, that they surpass being called 'devil'. I thought that there were only three Super Devils- my brother, his best friend and a descendent of the original Lucifer."

" **Partner, I suggest that you don't make an enemy out of that devil.** " Ddraig's voice rang out again. " **I could sense his power. Forget being a Super Devil, he's surpassed even** _ **that**_ **level of power.** "

Issei looked at his left arm. "Woah dude, you serious?"

" **I am. I won't lie- as much as it damages my pride, I don't think even in my prime I could kill him now.** "

"Even the Red Dragon Emperor himself…" Rias whispered. "He's _surpassed_ even a _Super Devil?_ "

" **Indeed. It's no exaggeration to say that he's now the** _ **Greatest Devil**_ **.** "

* * *

Author Notes:

I want to get something straight here; I DO NOT hate Rias as a character.

In fact, I think that she's a perfect example of a 'real' character is and what a realistic character is supposed to entail.

Flawed, imperfect, and with shortcomings. Those flaws are what I believe make a good character.

So why does Laverus seem to not have any flaws? Truth is- he does. You just haven't seen them yet. Scratch that, you've seen one of them.

He's a cruel bastard, despite how relaxed he seems. Kunou is scared to death of him when all he does is frown. His experiments would make even Rizevim stay away from him, and that is saying something.

One of those flaws is how he very rarely gives second chances. In fact, he mercilessly eradicates any devil in Japan without permission- men, women, even children- without hearing about why they came in the first place.

He gets very angry when people just disregard his warnings (e.g. Rias not alerting him before Riser and Grayfia came to Kuoh) despite him not really stressing out how rarely he gives those warnings/second chances and not making consequences clear enough for others to obey.

He didn't give Rias a second chance in this chapter- Grayfia understood that he gave all of devil-kind a second chance, and he won't be giving a third to anyone.

When he does get angry, he is very quick to get into a fight- Riser vs Laverus is the example of this- and he hides that intention to 'get even' by covering it with a reason (in this chapter, that reason would be Riser insulting him and taking his power too lightly).

The truth of the matter is that he only wanted to demonstrate his strength and make everyone else in the room fear him- which is why he gave out the fact that he has a Longinus Sacred Gear.

He loves to rant on and on- kind of in his own world when he does- whenever he gets the chance to explain why he dislikes the current devil kings, or about a dislike of his- e.g. Rias.

He is also a hypocrite. He slayed innocent devils in the underworld at one point as retribution for the nekomata and nekoshou. I mean, doesn't that raise any eyebrows? He was basically no better than them.

He revived the killed nekomata/nekoshou, so isn't that enough? Apparently not, since he butchered a portion of the devil population.

Yeah. He revived the killed nekomata/nekoshou, using the bodies of the devils he had killed personally, when he could have created bodies from water as the alternative.

So now, you know a few flaws in Laverus' character.

And before any of you say that giving Laverus a longinus is A; Too OP or B; doesn't make sense- let me clear that up for you:

A; You kinda signed up for this when you read a story with the Overpowered!Godlike!OC tag.

B; This takes a bit more explaining. We'll just say he came into contact with the principle of life, how the soul is created, etc. and found a way- using that knowledge- to be able to tie a sacred gear to his own soul.

I wonder which longinus gives its user the ability to come into contact with the principle of life…

Look, I don't really know what the Sephiroth Graal can actually do aside from reviving the dead and spamming emails to the user's brain and forcing said brain to read said emails.

Laverus, since he is so strong and is mentally strengthened, was able to survive. I don't read the manga or the light novel (sorry, hardcore fans) and I was only spoiled- from my friends and my own reading of other fanfiction.

So I kinda just made up a few abilities that one could potentially come up with using the knowledge from the Holy Grail as well as reading up on Valerie Tepes' abilities in the wiki.

In my headcanon, it's the reason why Sephiroth Graal is considered a longinus (aside from being able to revive the dead).

To Sovereign2808 and Mythic Imagination:

One thing I forgot to clear up; the Shinto Pantheon and Youkai Faction kinda did get an advantage over the devils by giving them Kuoh.

Laverus' reasoning (this is why):

 _"If we give Kuoh to the little sisters of not one, but two devil kings, just imagine if war breaks out between the devils and our joint-faction. We could kidnap those two, and the devils will be at our mercy. If not, well then they'll lose two of the Rookies Four; they'd be pretty weakened, don't you think? Besides, with half of the four devil kings being siscons, the same ones whose sisters we'd be taking away, would they really fight against us? I myself guarantee that they will be taken as prisoners and bargaining chips in the event that war breaks out. I vote to allow the two governance of Kuoh town."_

Now you know why they allowed Rias and Sona to govern Kuoh. Laverus' opinion and advice is taken pretty highly in the Shinto-Youkai Alliance.

Now, something you should know- not a lot of people among the youkais actually know how powerful Laverus is. Only Kuroka, Kunou, Yasaka and the official council are aware.

Most of the younger ones just think that he's an ancient youkai, but that's incorrect. They know that he's a valued member of the youkai, but not that he's the official advisor, secretary and personal bodyguard of their queen.

Kunou, on the other hand, is a bit complicated in regards to relationship with Laverus. More on that next chapter.

Anyway, Laverus is the reason why the Shinto and Youkai have an alliance (now called the Shinto-Youkai Alliance). He's affiliated with the Youkai Faction, but has such good relationships with the Shinto Pantheon, and his diplomatic skills gave the two a very powerful alliance.

Remember- he's a Leviathan. I'd like to think that even before the Great War, Leviathan was in charge of foreign affairs, so he'd have taught Laverus about diplomacy. Since he also wanted to overtake Lucifer as well, he also taught him everything he knew about politics, having his son study extensively in that field.

On a side note, Riser regenerated his arms about five days after this day ended.

(This was a pretty big author's note…)

Hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading~


	4. Chapter 4

**Greatest Devil**

 _Chapter 4:_ _**Interlude**_

"Otou-sama, you seem very upset about something." Yasaka frowned in worry, seeing her father walk through the door with a deep frown on his face. "Did something happen?"

"One day, Yasaka." Laverus muttered as he sat on a chair. "One day after I give them their warning, a high class devil and an _ultimate_ class devil intrude on our lands without prior notice."

"Ah."

"One day. Apparently, it was too difficult for that _boy_ to tell me that a devil would be arriving, and that he'd send his lap dog as well."

"Um, otou-sama?"

"Yes?" Then, Laverus noticed the young girl- no more than twelve years old- hiding behind Yasaka nervously. "Oh."

"U-umm…" The girl stuttered. "H-hello, ojii-sama."

"Hello to you as well, Kunou. I apologise for allowing you to see me at my worst." In a rare moment, Laverus genuinely smiled at Kunou.

Seeing that her grandfather wasn't going to flood the palace the very moment someone ticked him off, she smiled brightly and ran towards him.

Laverus dropped to his knees and enveloped Kunou in a hug, one that she gladly returned. She loved her grandfather when he wasn't angry.

"It's okay!" Kunou's voice was slightly muffled since she stuck her face into his shoulder. "Welcome back, ojii-sama!"

Yasaka, seeing her daughter so happy, pouted. Because she very rarely got hugged by her father.

"What's wrong, Yasaka?" Laverus asked, seeing her face. "Is there a problem with any factions?"

"Nothing." She grumbled, looking away.

She would be damned if the image of the sophisticated lady and elegant ruler of the youkais was destroyed in front of her father- the man whom she respected beyond all else.

Though Laverus already saw the pout. As well as the various other less-than-elegant faces she made when she thought he wasn't looking.

Not to mention the other side of her personality. He couldn't forget that time when she flirted with him while drunk. Then Kunou ran around, proclaiming to the world that he was her father.

That was one night he _wished_ he could forget…

"She just wants you to spoil her a little more." Crom Cruach remarked as he walked into the room while yawning. "She's jealous that the kid gets more hugs than you daily than she does every six months."

"I'm not a kid!" Kunou puffed, perking her head up towards the Crescent Circle dragon. "I'm a big girl now!"

"And I'm not jealous either!" Yasaka, much like her daughter, also puffed at the dragon. "I don't need hugs at my age!"

The image of two kitsunes that already look alike making the same expression at him only served to enhance the fact that the two were virtually copies of each other, if not for their age difference.

Laverus released Kunou from the hug and stood up, patting her on the head and ruffling her hair as he did so. "You'll grow bigger, Kunou. Just you wait. Now then, shall we get started on your lessons?"

"Nooooo!" She drawled, which prompted a small giggle from her mother. "Politics are boring! Teach me how to fight instead! I wanna be as strong as mom! She's cool!"

"Oh, you just wait kid." Crom Cruach chuckled. "You don't seem to know how powerful Laverus is. He can kick your mom's ass anytime!"

"Don't use vulgar words like that in front of my daughter!" Yasaka snapped.

"Is ojii-sama really that strong?" Kunou turned to Laverus with wide, curious eyes. "He looks so boring, though."

Laverus ignored her comment on his looks, and patted her head again, drawing a pleased hum from her. "I am. Though I hope that you never have to see me fighting Yasaka."

"Why?!" Kunou pouted.

"Because I love my daughter, Kunou, just as much as she loves you." Out of the corner of his eyes, Laverus could see a happy smile making its way on Yasaka's face. "I don't like fighting the people that I love. You wouldn't want to fight your mother, would you?"

"Well…" She looked down. "No."

Laverus looked satisfied at the answer, and nodded, patting her head once again. "That's a good girl, Kunou. Now, why don't you go and play with Valerie while I talk to your mother about a few things?"

"Mmkay!" Nodding her head in an almost exaggerating manner, she bowed to her grandfather and mother, before running upstairs.

"Just remember," Laverus yelled after her. "I'll be giving you your lessons on politics later on, so don't exhaust yourself!"

Kunou made no sign that she'd heard him, but with the way that her fox ears had twitched just before she got out of view, he knew she had.

"Heh, that kid's a bundle of energy." The strongest evil dragon smirked. "So, did you succeed in that goal of yours?"

"I did." Laverus nodded before turning to his daughter. "Please take their blood, skin cells and hair. I'll be in my lab."

His daughter frowned. "But otou-sama, are you sure about this? I know how much you-"

"I am. I'm close now, Yasaka. I've almost found a way. Don't worry."

Yasaka nodded slowly, and left the room.

"Oi, Laverus."

"Yes, Crom?"

"When are you gonna prove to your granddaughter that you aren't as scary as she thinks you are?"

"..."

 **With Kunou…**

Kunou lost the smile that she had been wearing on her face, and dropped to the floor.

She was honestly terrified of Laverus, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone. He had taught her not to show anyone weakness, and that showing one's fear is the greatest sign of weakness.

He was kind, relaxing and even though he's boring as hell, she always knew that Laverus would put his life down in a heartbeat to protect her if need be.

He took care of her and tucked her into bed whenever her mother couldn't do so due to her job, read her bedtime stories before she fell asleep and, dare she say it, was just like a father to her.

He taught her so many things- politics, diplomacy, even about her fox fire and the sacred gears, something he had promised to give her in a year or two.

Her mother loved him dearly, and not for no reason.

But the reason why she was so afraid of him was because she knew that he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent devils when they tried to eradicate the nekomata and nekoshou.

Sure, it was a moral wrong for them to attack the senjutsu users simply because of a fear, but it was also a moral wrong for her grandfather to kill so many devils who weren't even involved.

That's why she acted oblivious to his power, to hold onto the image of a gentle man that she knew existed somewhere in him.

Whenever he was angry or was frowning, she just hid behind her mother- praying to any higher power that he wouldn't drown the whole world in demonic water.

She was still capable of swallowing her fear and acting like an innocent kid in front of him, but she knew by now that he already saw through her facade.

Their relationship was fairly strained, but she'd still take his lessons to heart- despite all of her protests- and will never really show any fear on her face in front of him.

After all, she may be deathly afraid of him, but she's always loved him and always will. Just like her mother, Laverus Leviathan is a man who she dreams of becoming.

She always tried her best in front of him- she was more afraid of disappointing Laverus than she is of disappointing her own mother. She always looked at him and dreamed of the day that he would say to her that he was proud to call her his granddaughter- proud that she was a member of his family. She always compared herself to him, and has always wanted his approval.

Sighing, she picked herself up from the ground and walked into Valerie's room.

"Valerie-nee-chan!" She slammed the door open and allowed herself inside, smiling genuinely when she saw her older sister figure.

"Hello, Ku-chan." Valerie Tepes- the former head of the Tepes faction of vampires, waved slightly at the young kitsune with a smile. "How are you today?"

"I'm good!" She trotted over to the bed, where Valerie was sitting. "I've come to play!"

Kunou was very well aware of Valerie's condition. Namely, her broken mind and soul. It was why she tried her best to be with her without looking overbearing or annoying.

It was a good thing, too. Valerie had made a complete recovery of her original personality and was now functioning as a proper member of society. Even if she still loved to hole herself in her room all day long.

 **Eleven Days Later…**

Laverus smirked dangerously as he replayed a certain scene that he had recorded with a magic circle.

Grayfia stood in Issei's room, handing him a leaflet with a magic circle on it. "My master, Sirzechs, said; "If you want to save my sister, then use that. Good luck." That is all."

She warped away for the hundredth time on Laverus' recording.

"Blackmail?" Crom Cruach humorously raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you're going for?"

"I know." The Leviathan sighed. "It's unoriginal, but I just… couldn't come up with anything better. Besides, blackmail has always been there for me when I needed it."

"A tool like that's been there when you _needed_ it?" Crom shook his head in amusement. "Whatever. Why do you hate the current Lucifer so much anyway?"

"As much as I've hated _all_ Lucifers, the Morning Star was at least an actual king." Laverus replied, once again replaying the recording. "He knew what to do in order to get people to _listen_ and he knew how to lead his people. That _boy,_ on the other hand, does not know the first thing about controlling devils."

He looked Crom Cruach in the eye, silently demanding that he listen to what he says next.

"Devils respect strength, you see, so that's why, after the civil war ended with mine and my cousin's disappearance, that boy was the first in line to be chosen as a ruler. They chose to elect their new leaders through power, not qualification. He may have been good at leading armies into battle during war, but not at leading his people to prosperity during times of peace.

I'll be honest here. The devil faction is now an absolute mess. Uncle Beelzebub never _created_ a system to reincarnate someone, but his 'successor' suddenly gave birth to slave traders. Asmodeus? Well, at least the devils looked terrifying under the original Asmodeus' management. The new Leviathan? What did she do in the aftermath of the Nekomata Genocide?

I don't think you need to know about Lucifer. He's _known_ for being a major siscon. What has he done about equality for his people? Gave power to the descendents of the _good_ devils, making them arrogant beyond comprehension, and did nothing else. You know, _aside from when he ordered the massacre of an innocent race._ Now? He just manipulated things behind the scenes to 'free' his sister from her marriage."

Crom Cruach could just taste the amount of dissatisfaction from his king as he ranted on and on about the less-than-preferred management of the new devil kings.

"I'll give you the reality here, Crom." The ancient devil continued. "The only reason why everyone is still staying away from them is because they're afraid that Rizevim might come back and support the devils _and_ that they'd have to face a minimum of two Super Devils."

"Ah, yes. Super Devils." Crom nodded almost sagely. "How I wish to fight them."

Laverus shook his head, mostly in annoyance but also with a touch of amusement. "You and your battle maniacal tendencies. But I can't let you do that. It would only show that I can't control the actions of my own peerage members, and it won't reflect well on the Shinto-Youkai Alliance."

"Stuck-up, formal and never ending pride for the alliance. By the way," He glanced at his king's magic circle. "Tell me, how are you going to be able to present that while explaining why you were spying on that boy in his room?"

"I'll just say that I was watching his recovery to ensure everything went well. After all, Hyoudou is a Japanese citizen, one that I had failed to protect from the young Gremory's schemes. That, or I can use the excuse that he may have been planning something against me, and I couldn't have that. Well, the former option would improve-"

"Yeah, yeah. Improve the Shinto-Youkai Alliance's standing because they show care even for the weak. I get it." The Crescent Circle dragon droned.

"Beautiful, I'm glad you have brain cells." Laverus quipped.

Crom Cruach snorted. "Well, whatever the case, you ought to tone down the hatred that you have for the new Devil Kings, otherwise you'll be making bad decisions."

"I don't _hate_ the current devil kings." The blue haired man admitted. "I just don't like the way that they're running the devils. The way I see things, it's okay to be a siscon if it doesn't interfere with your role as devil king."

"Oh?" The strongest evil dragon raised an eyebrow. "So if they change the way they run things, you'd consider an alliance with them?"

"That's correct."

"Laverus-sama." Valerie called, walking down the stairs into the room. "The next time you go to Kuoh, could I come with you?"

"Not that I mind, but why?" Laverus raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that devils would be welcoming of a vampire in their territory."

"I'm not so sure myself." She admitted, looking away ever so slightly. "But I just feel like I should be there. Also, you said that a vampire-turned-devil is also in Kuoh. Is that really true?"

"There is. Do you think that he's…?"

"I do." Valerie nodded. "Even if I'm not so sure myself, I just want to meet them. I'll take my chances."

"Alright then. I'll be there in a day or two, so I'll tell you when I'm leaving."

Valerie's face lit up. "Great, thank you, Laverus-sama."

Valerie didn't usually leave the palace, as instructed by Laverus, so when he deems it safe for her to walk in the open, she usually tries to make the most of her time.

"Oi, vamp." Crom called. "That friend of yours, last we heard, was sealed away because his master was too _weak_ to control him."

The Crescent Circle dragon despised weakness, so he spat out the word 'weak' like it was venom.

"Don't worry about it." Laverus said, shifting in his seat. "I can always tell them to unseal the vampire, and I did detect seals surrounding the room that the vampire was in."

Valerie's hopes increased, and the other two in the room could see that.

"Valerie-nee-chan!" Kunou's voice rang out from upstairs. "Come back! I wanna play!"

Laverus smiled as Valerie ran back up towards her room. His granddaughter's innocence is one of the few things that he wishes to preserve for as long as possible. But as the next in line to become the queen of the youkai, it simply wasn't meant to be. Even still, he's glad that she is able to make such a close friend.

"So when are you going to be using that recording of yours?" Crom asked after Valerie ran out of sight.

"I need a failsafe just in case one or two things go wrong." Laverus, finally, put the magic circle away. "I could inconspicuously send this to the Old Maou Faction, and we all know they'd use it as a catalyst to oust that boy from power."

"That's dangerous. The old devil king descendants are criminals, and they-"

"Are not criminals in any other part of the world." Laverus cut his queen off. "Remember, they're only the 'bad guys' to devils. What have they done against the angels? The fallen? Or any other mythology? Sure, they wish to continue the Great War, but they haven't committed any crimes against them yet."

"Hmm. I stand corrected. It's your show. Anyway, you do your thing. I've got a Khaos Brigade meeting to attend."

Laverus waved his hand. "You ought to leave them, but tell my grand nephew I said hi."

* * *

 **[Invisibility Matrix]**

 **Description:**

Can reflect light away from the wielder, effectively making them invisible to the naked eye. Magic energy and magic signatures can still be detected however. Can also cast a small field that reflects light away from everyone within the field.

 **[Mimic]**

 **Description:**

Perfectly copies the DNA structure of a single target, and 'saves' the user's own DNA. Can then freely switch between the 'saved' DNA and the copied DNA, which alters the user's appearance and abilities. Cannot copy memories, or the DNA of anyone that is far stronger than the user.

 **[Aquatic Transformer]**

 **Description:**

Converts demonic power into water. Primarily used as a substitute for the molecules in the air. Mostly used when the air itself is too hot to be transformed into water.

 **[Youkai Healing]**

 **Description:**

A sacred gear that surpasses Twilight Healing in its healing capabilities, but is only able to heal the youkai race. Cannot be used to heal any other race.

 **[Regenerative Block]**

 **Description:**

Infuses magical attacks with a special energy created by the sacred gear that hinders a victim's ability to heal the wounds caused by magical attacks. Effect lasts for five days.

Laverus sighed as he put down the paper that he was reading. With the amount of sacred gears he had been producing- namely once every two months- it simply wasn't efficient enough to raise the youkai faction's power as much as he had hoped.

It was also counter-intuitive if the devils got ahold of this information; if a new brand of sacred gears is now able to be wielded by youkai, more and more would start invading Kyoto to look for anyone capable of using a sacred gear.

He didn't doubt his ability to protect its people if it came down to a small skirmish, but he was also diverging a lot of clones to look for any stray youkai that are isolated and need help finding their way to the safety of Kyoto.

He isn't God. He didn't come up with the idea of sacred gears, and the only information that he had to be able to work with as a reference were only meant for humans or reincarnated devils, not youkai.

The sacred gear research that he had copied from the vaults of Heaven only helped in half of the production of sacred gears- namely the creation of the gear itself and not the intended wielder.

He had even failed to set a self-destruct button in any of the gears he had already created, which would be the failsafe in case anyone else got their hands on them for their own uses.

He can't even tie them into a youkai's soul, even with the information he received from the Sephiroth Graal.

Not only that, the Evil Pieces research that the Leviathan had been trying to get around to had to continually be put off to the side, and no real progress had been made with them yet.

He was falling way behind his schedule, and that was not good. It was already time for his nightly patrol around Kyoto.

* * *

 **Author Notes**

I'm so sorry for this interlude if you were expecting the plot to progress, and I'm sorry it took so long to update.

I was supposed to have updated sooner, but the internet cut off- the modem was faulty, so I had to order a new one. It was a day late, and I faced even more issues trying to get the internet back up. Turns out I also had a high voltage causing problems, so a technician had to come (two extra days) to fix it.

Anyway, he reason for this filler is to give a peek at the relationship between Laverus, Kunou and Valerie. After all, Laverus has the Sephiroth Graal, and in canon, Valerie was supposed to have it. How could they not have some sort of relationship with one another if I'm sticking to canon?

I think I'll clear this up now; I'm not good at creating an arc from scratch, so I'll be following the canon arcs in this story. Personally, I'm not proud to be saying that it'll be another unoriginal fanfiction of 'OC follows story canon arcs with a few twists'.

Also, if you feel that there's too much devil bashing, then fear not- future chapters will be introducing devils that aren't such assholes. E.g. Tair Gremory and Maya Sitri- my OCs.

Laverus won't be scheming too much against devils after the next incident (Kokabiel arc), he'll be taking a break from that.

The whole Phenex Marriage Arc thing went exactly as it did in canon; I couldn't figure out how I could rope Laverus into the whole fiasco. I didn't want to take the 'OC trains ORC' route that I've seen used in other fanfics either; as it conflicts with Laverus' personality and interests.

Laverus won't be interfering too much with the whole Kokabiel Arc either, but he will act behind the scenes- more information on that next chapter. This is what I meant with the Passive!OC tag.

With the whole 'Slayer of-' thing that Grayfia had mentioned; who do you think was slain by Laverus' hand? In context, it should be pretty obvious to you all, but I'll keep the ORC oblivious to it.

Valerie will be going to Kuoh next chapter as well, alongside Laverus, but she won't be there for very long at all.

Now; Review replies~

 **Blake Valentine II** : Since you revealed he's a Leviathan, I hope that Katerea doesn't die and is revealed to be his sis or something else

 **Re** : Katerea won't die, that much has been figured out in my story plan- though the two will have a much worse relationship than you'd think.

 **Skull Jokez** : Hey this looks pretty interesting. I am looking forward to seeing what other characters you have in his peerage. So far so good I would say, keep up the good work!

 **Re** : Thank you! Hopefully I can keep up with expectations~

 **Mythic Imagination** : Huh. I don't know why I'm surprised he's a Leviathan when Sitri was already ruled out. Got to say I like it. A Leviathan defecting to another Pantheon isn't something I've read before. Although, while the situation involving Riser seems logical (Riser IS pretty pretty impatient, and arrogant), I feel you may have went just a little overboard in 'buttering up' Laverus. Probably could've revealed details/exploits in later chapters.

Overall though, I still like this story. Can't wait for the next chapter.

 **Re** : I tried to keep the whole Leviathan thing as secret as I could :3 I myself haven't seen anything even related to a Leviathan in foreign territory, so that played a major role in the start-up of this story as well.

Now the important (to me) part; your opinion on the 'buttering up' of Laverus;

I agree with you- looking back on it, I could indeed have kept the fact that Grayfia was at one point his maid, the whole Destroyer of Excalibur (to the chapter after the next one), the longinus possession thing (until later chapters) _and_ the senjutsu, youjutsu and touki completely secret. I probably could have handled the small skirmish between Laverus and Riser better as well- not displaying Laverus moving at speeds comparable to sound, and instead actually making him visibly move.

It actually took your review for me to realise this- thank you so much for sharing that!

 **naruto** : great chapter keep it up

 **Re** : Thank you, I hope I can!

Hopefully, I won't keep you waiting too long for the next chapter (I don't really count this chapter since it's more of a filler than anything, but if you count it as one, then here you go~)


	5. Chapter 5

**Greatest Devil**

 _Chapter 5:_ **_Exorcists and Plans_**

Laverus materialised himself in front of two hooded figures, who were instantly on guard.

"I did not receive word from anyone that church representatives would be arriving in Kuoh. Do you have any business in this town? Or did you already notify the governors?"

One of the two shook their head. "We haven't yet. We'll be meeting with them soon about the reason we're here." From the person's voice, Laverus could tell that they were female.

"Very well then. I'll notify them that you are here. In the future, please make sure that prior notice is given before your arrival."

Without waiting for a reply, Laverus turned his body into water and vaporized himself into the air, heading off towards the academy grounds.

 **Later…**

"So, why are you two here?" Rias asked the exorcists from her seat. "It's rare for two followers of the church to meet with devils."

"Yes, we did not want to interact with any devils either." One of the exorcists- the one with blue and a tiny bit of green hair- replied. "But it is necessary for our mission, so we will do what we must."

In the corner of the room, Laverus felt a familiar feeling from the holy energy being radiated off of the two girls. It felt familiar to him somehow, yet it didn't feel complete, either.

He also noticed a young girl with blonde hair and green eyes in the room, and guessed that she was reincarnated. She certainly wasn't there when Laverus was in the clubroom over a week ago.

Since Laverus has such an amazing information specialist in his peerage, he knew who the three were.

Asia Argento, a former nun who had her sacred gear extracted from her.

Xenovia Quarta, an exorcist under the tutelage of Griselda Quarta.

Irina Shidou, Issei's childhood friend, who he thought was male until now.

"Three of the six Excaliburs in the church's possession has been stolen by a fallen angel." The leading exorcist continued. "We've traced them here, to this town. We were sent to take them back."

Issei blinked in confusion. "Hey, wait, 'Excaliburs'? Like, with an 's'?"

"That's correct." Xenovia unwrapped a massive weapon that she was holding on her back, revealing a very, very long sword that split into three points at the tip, has an axe guard and a handle big enough for three hands to wield.

"This is Excalibur, or at least one of them now." She announced. "The original Excalibur was destroyed in the Great War, so the pieces were reforged into seven, separate swords, each one containing one of the original Excalibur's powers. This one is Excalibur Destruction."

"Woah." Issei looked over to Laverus- who shrugged- before looking back at Excalibur Destruction. "Why am I getting chills just looking at it?"

"That's natural." Laverus answered. "Excalibur was powerful, and even if it is only one-seventh of its original power, it is still enough to hurt. After all, it was almost like it was made with the intention of killing devils."

"Holy crap…"

"Mine's Excalibur Mimic!" Irina presented her own Excalibur, which had been wrapped as a ribbon on her arm. "It can change its shape to anything I want."

Rias furrowed her eyebrows. "Let's get back to the topic. Do you know which fallen angel was the one responsible?"

"We do." Xenovia nodded, putting her sword on her back. "His name is Kokabiel."

"Kokabiel?" The redhead's voice was laced with thinly veiled curiosity. "You're taking on a leader class fallen angel by yourselves? Are you aware you'd most likely die?"

"We are. But if possible, I'd prefer not to die."

"Alright then." Rias sighed. "But what do you want us to do?"

"Nothing. We do not want you to get involved. This is _our_ mission, and we'd like to keep it that way, since working with devils wouldn't look good for the church. There's also a chance that you'd be in league with the fallen angels."

The Gremory heiress narrowed her eyes. "You think we're working with the fallen angels?"

"Since the Excaliburs are effective against devils, the church wouldn't put off that possibility."

"Well then you have my word that we won't be interfering with your mission. In any way. I swear on the name of my brother and my family."

Laverus noted that she sounded very proud when she mentioned her brother and her family. She must truly love them.

Xenovia smiled in satisfaction. "Then that'll be enough. Truth be told, I wasn't expecting that the little sister of the Lucifer would be working with any fallen angel. But thank you. We shall take our leave now."

The exorcists stood up and turned to head out of the door. Laverus began formulating a few new plans in his own mind, wondering how he could warp this to an advantage for his side.

"Are you Asia Argento, the 'Holy Maiden'?" Before the two left, Xenovia turned her head to look at the former nun. "To have fallen as far as becoming a devil, what a shame."

"W-well I…"

"Do you still believe in God?" She asked. "If it's right now, I believe our lord will forgive you, if you accept death." Xenovia brought out Excalibur Destruction once again.

"I…"

"That's enough." Laverus, sensing a fight, called out in a stern voice. "Please remember, exorcist, that you are picking a fight with the peerage of the little sister of a devil king. He will not take this kindly."

"..." Xenovia's hands, which were holding the mighty weapon, started shaking. Or rather, the sword itself shook.

Laverus smiled. "I see that Excalibur remembers who I am."

"It seems… scared." Xenovia muttered. "Who are you? To make Excalibur shake like this?"

"You don't need to know who I am, Quarta. Just know that you should think before you act. Do you really want to get the entire church and maybe even Heaven involved in your act of killing a devil? Unless a devil is picking a fight with you, please be careful with where you point that."

After a moment's consideration, Xenovia sheathed her sword on her back once again.

"In that case, I'll pick a fight with her." The occupants of the clubroom turned to the door, where Kiba was standing. "I want to fight you, wielder of Excalibur. Is that alright, _lord_ Laverus?"

Rias anxiously looked at the ancient devil, who seemed to be in a bit of thought.

' _I can judge how skilled these two are. Hmm. It'd certainly be useful to judge how powerful an Excalibur is after I destroyed it.'_

"Very well. I'll allow it."

"I don't know what I was expecting, but that was a disappointing fight." Laverus muttered, looking at the beaten form of Kiba Yuuto. "I guess you let your hatred take control."

The blonde clicked his tongue.

"Will that be satisfactory?" Xenovia asked. "If so, we shall be taking our leave."

Rias nodded. "Yes, thank you for not dealing a fatal blow to my knight."

The wielder of Excalibur Destruction nodded, then turned to leave.

"See you, Issei-kun!" Irina chirped to her best friend as she ran up to her partner.

"By the way, young knight." Laverus addressed the survivor of the Holy Sword Project, who was being healed by Asia. "Just remember, _stray_ devils will be eliminated. So think about what you'll be doing carefully. Or else."

He nodded frustratingly, and Laverus warped away with a magic circle. ' _At least I got a measure of its capabilities now.'_

"Valerie." The ancient devil called out upon teleporting into his home.

The half-vampire- who had been unpacking a few things- peeked her head out of her room. "Yes, Laverus-sama?"

"We have a problem. You need to go back to Kyoto until the storm is over."

"Why, Laverus-sama?" Valerie frowned. "I just got here, and I haven't-"

"I know, Valerie, and I'm sorry." Laverus ruffled Valerie's hair, the same way he ruffled Yasaka's hair when she was younger to calm her down. "But Kokabiel is planning on destroying this town, and I don't want you getting caught in the crossfire."

Valerie widened her eyes. "This entire town? Does that mean-"

Laverus genuinely smiled. "I'll keep the vampire safe. You have my word. You know how powerful I am, don't you?"

"I-I can help!" The vampire protested. "I've grown stronger- I can help you. Please, let me stay. I want to see Gasper! I-"

"Valerie." The ancient devil's powerful voice stopped her. "Even if I bring you over there right now, the young Gremory- as much as I hate to say it- has the right as the vampire's master to refuse your request to see him. I can't do anything without starting a war, either. After all, the fake Lucifer will fight back if anything happens to his sister- even if he knows he cannot defeat me."

"But she won't refuse! If Gasper says that he wants to see me, then she'll-"

"The vampire is _sealed,_ Valerie." Laverus cut her off once again. "Even if he says anything, the Gremory won't hear him."

"I…" At the end of the day, Laverus was correct. Valerie knew that forlornly. "Alright then, Laverus-sama. Please, keep Gasper safe."

The ancient devil nodded. "I will. Now, let's go back."

 **Scene Change**

After telling Valerie to stay in the youkai palace until everything is taken care of, Laverus teleports to the center of the Shinto Pantheon, Takamagahara.

Since he is welcomed at any time, no one batted an eye as he walked into the central temple, greeting a few deities on the way there.

"Lord Tsukuyomi." Laverus called when he entered the palace. "Lord Susanoo? Lady Amaterasu? I must speak with you."

"I'm here. What is it, Laverus?" Laverus recognised the voice behind him as Tsukuyomi's.

Turning around, he saw a handsome young man, standing at 1.7 meters tall with silver hair, shining like the moon and matching coloured eyes. He was dressed in a grey kimono with a blue tidal pattern, tied by a silver obi.

"Lord Tsukuyomi." Laverus nodded his head in respect and greeting. "I have a request."

Tsukuyomi nodded his head. "Go on."

"Kokabiel is attacking Kuoh with the intention of killing the little sisters of two devil kings and restarting the Great War." Laverus began slowly. "Should I intervene, or leave the current governors to deal with the situation by themselves?"

"I wish to see how they deal with a serious threat." The god of the moon replied. "There is also no doubt that Kokabiel will know who you are, so keep low for the time being."

The Leviathan nodded. "Very well. Than let me tell you of my plan to further undermine the devil faction's power."

 **Scene Change, Timeskip**

"I'm going to keep myself low." Laverus told the two young devil heiresses. "If I fight, then I'll only be dragging the Shinto-Youkai Alliance into whatever grand scheme Kokabiel has. I wish to see how you both deal with such a massive threat."

"That's fine." Rias nodded. "We'll take care of this."

"What will you be doing in the meantime, Leviathan-sama?" Sona asked. "You'll be protecting the citizens, won't you?"

"I will." Laverus nodded. "I'll be having someone from the youkai come here to help me in the shadows."

"The youkai? Who?" Rias asked.

"Kuroka." Was his swift reply.

"What?!" The red-headed devil exclaimed. "But she's-"

"A criminal?" Laverus raised an eyebrow. "No. She's not. If you are concerned with her being the kitten's sister, then you'll just have to accept it. She'll be facing her fears whether she likes it or not."

"It's too soon for her!" Rias protested further. "Can't you bring someone else?"

"I can't."

"Rias." Sona called. "I suggest we allow that. Kuroka is equivalent to an ultimate class devil, so she will be a big help if a battle breaks out."

"W-well…"

"It doesn't matter what you say or feel." Laverus said. "She _will_ be here either way, and nothing will change that."

"...Fine." Rias sighed. "But make sure that she doesn't talk to Koneko until she's ready!"

The Crimson Haired Ruin Princess almost stormed out of the room.

"Do not contact your leaders." The ancient Leviathan turned to Sona. "A battle between leaders of two separate factions will inevitably lead to war."

"Understood." The Sitri heiress nodded. "Truth be told, I wasn't going to contact my sister either way."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a cat to pick up."

"Kuro." Laverus greeted the cat youkai in his temporary house. "I see you've managed to find a way inside my place of residency yet again."

"Nyaa~" Kuroka waved her hand cutely in a cat-like manner. "Hello Laverus! So, what are we going to be doing? Oh, will I be seeing my Shirone?"

"You can." He nodded. "But I can't guarantee she will be happy to see you."

"As long as she's safe, I'm happy with that. So, what do you want me to do?"

"Try and sense any supernatural movement involving a group of powerful holy energy." He commanded. "I need to know the locations of every Excalibur."

"Hmm?" Kuroka tilted her head. "Isn't it better to just locate Kokabiel directly?"

 **[Flashback]**

" _So what's your plan?" Tsukuyomi asked._

" _For it to work, I'd need the help of Kuroka. She's much better than me at sensing supernatural forces, so I need her cooperation."_

" _Go ahead." The Shinto God of the Moon nodded. "Please make sure to alert the governors first."_

" _I will. Anyway, I'll need her to locate the Excaliburs. That way, I can go and nab one of them, while leaving the other two. The one I'll take, I'll be studying it's powers. We'll leave Kokabiel to do his own thing, and during the inevitable battle with him, I'll swoop in with Kuroka and take him down. We retake all the Excaliburs, and give them back to Heaven. Or the exorcists, that could also work."_

" _You wish to improve our standing with Heaven." Tsukuyomi deduced. "By returning the Excaliburs, you are showing goodwill from the Shinto-Youkai Alliance."_

" _I am. One small act could have big consequences, and I believe that they will favour our side. Also, given a few more years, the chances of gaining an alliance with them could also improve."_

 _Tsukuyomi smiled knowingly. "What about the fallen angels? You wouldn't be letting them go without a favour owed to us, would you?"_

" _Of course not." Laverus replied. "I'll spare Kokabiel and give him back to them. I won't do anything else, though. Azazel would jump on an opportunity to gain more information on sacred gears, and I don't want to give him any."_

" _Very well. I approve, Laverus."_

 **[Flashback End]**

"No." The Leviathan shook his head. "I have my plans, and an Excalibur will be needed for that."

"Nyaa?"

"Don't worry. Anyway, can you detect any powerful holy energies?"

"Yup!" Kuroka smiled in a playful manner.

Laverus sighed a little through his breath. He knew exactly what she was going-

"But can I join your peerage first?"

-to say next.

"No." He intoned. "You were influenced to want that while you were drunk."

"What?" The 'Stray Cat' pouted. "Am I not strong enough for you?"

"You are plenty strong." Laverus shook his head. "But you already know what it means to become a reincarnated devil. If you wish for me to be your king so badly, we can arrange that without the need for a chess piece."

"Oh, come on! Please?"

"No."

Kuroka sighed. "Alright then. Anyway, there are two Excaliburs in close proximity to each other. Three others can be found on the outskirts of the town, nyaa."

"In that case, take me there." The Leviathan stood up. "We are taking an Excalibur."

"That was easy." Kuroka remarked, standing on a dead body of a stray priest. "I'd have thought they'd guard their treasures a little more, nya."

"It doesn't matter." Laverus picked up Excalibur Transparency, which strangely didn't hurt him in any way. "You can either go look for your sister, or you can wait. Thank you for your help, Kuro."

"Your welcome, nyaa." Kuroka winked at him. "So, have I proven myself Laverus?"

"Killing a few weak exorcists is not 'proving' anything." He replied. "Like I said, you don't need to be a member of my peerage to follow orders that I give you."

The nekoshou sighed. "Alright then. What next, nyaa?"

Laverus gave her a side glance as he wrapped his newfound Excalibur in water. "Get ready for a fight. I have no doubt that Kokabiel will be making his own appearance soon."

Though Kuroka normally would have made some vulgar comment and start flirting with Laverus, now that most of the issues had been settled, she also knew the implications of what he was trying to say to her- the hidden message that he was sending.

" _Your sister will be fighting soon. Defend her."_

"Then I'll go meet my Shirone. Bye bye, Laverus~ Call me if you need me, nyaa."

After a flash of a teleportation circle, the black cat disappeared.

"You can come out now." Laverus called after a moment of silence.

From the ground behind him, a massive flower bud grew out of the ground, its black rose petals slowly opening themselves up- as if they were blooming- to reveal a young woman standing inside.

She had grey eyes and rosy-pink hair, which were tied into braids going down to her upper back. Two more braids fell to her shoulder while framing her face. Two hair clips held up a lock of hair on her left forehead. The woman wore a black and white checkered shirt that exposed her midriff underneath a loose-fitting brown overcoat. She was barefoot, but wore green, gardener-like gloves.

"Hello, master." She smiled slightly at him. "I assume you know why I am here?"

"Hello Rangel. What's going on?" The Leviathan got straight to the point. "You don't come to me in person unless it's very important."

Rangel lost her smile. "There is a sudden tension in the Youkai Faction." She reported. "Many youkai are arguing against other youkai in a debate about whether they are satisfied with Yasaka-sama's rule, or if they wish for you to claim power and… usurp your daughter."

Laverus narrowed his eyes. "How many youkai are dissatisfied with her rule?"

"About a fifth of the populace."

"Then a group must be behind it." Laverus sighed. "At the very least, they must be organised."

' _With Khaos Brigade starting up their operations, we must stand strong. We can't afford a civil upheaval right now… I can't just go in and demand that I rule alongside Yasaka to calm them down, so that's out of the question.'_

"Why are they dissatisfied?" He asked. "Do they have any justification?"

"They say that they did not like the approach in which was used to deal with the devils in the aftermath of the Nekomata Genocide." Rangel pulled out a few slips of paper and handed them to Laverus. Written on those slips were various comments that a few youkai had been saying behind the authorities' backs.

Man, why didn't Yasaka-sama do _something_ about the devils?

Yasaka-sama even convinced the Shinto to give them Kuoh. What's up with that?

I heard Laverus-sama had to take things into his own hands and act behind Yasaka-sama's back. He killed a couple hundred devils is the rumour going around.

Really? That guy's terrifying.

Yeah. I heard he's considered a Super Devil from the rumours in the fallen angel faction. Don't get on his bad side.

Super Devil? I knew he had power, but I didn't know he was _that_ strong!

Honestly, I'd be fine with him being our king.

After reading the conversation, Laverus breathed out another sigh. "Report this to Yasaka, and make sure you do so personally. She needs to know about this. Don't tell anyone else, _especially_ the members on the council."

The braided woman bowed. "Understood, master." The rose petals once again enveloped her body, before the bud retreated back into the ground- dragging the entire flower out of the area.

' _Khaos Brigade has started getting more active. At the exact same time, civil tension is brewing in the youkai faction, which also happens to be the faction that I'm affiliated with. Is this his doing? I wouldn't put it against him. Out of everyone, he's the only one who knows what I could truly do when I'm unobstructed. He also needs the Sephiroth Graal, something I have in my possession. But is he trying to destroy the alliance that I worked to build and therefore weaken us, or is he trying to use civil unrest to oust me from my position of influence?'_

"Too many possibilities." Laverus muttered into the empty area. "I just know this will come with severe consequences if I just leave it alone. Damn you, Rizevim."

 **Scene Change**

 **POV: Yasaka**

Currently, I'm in my personal quarters, hearing some disturbing news

"Thank you for telling me all of this, Rangel." I smile gratefully at otou-sama's only pawn piece- Rangel- whom he had rescued from devil slavery a century ago.

Rangel shook her head. "No need to thank me, Yasaka-sama."

"Like I've said, no need to be so formal, Rangel." I beckon her to stand with a hand gesture. "Now, why don't you take a break? You've worked so hard."

"I thank you for the offer, Yasaka-sama, but I politely decline." Rangel, what did I say about the formality? "I have a few things I must get back to."

"You've been working nonstop, Rangel. I care for you as much as I care for Kunou and Valerie. It's unhealthy for you to work too much."

What I said _is_ true. Rangel has to constantly carry an endless flow of information and decide which ones are useful to us, then report them to otou-sama.

Considering that her information network spreads across the entire human world, Underworld, Heaven _and_ all the other pantheon's homes, that's a lot of work for her.

Otou-sama, why do you work her so hard?

"Thank you for worrying about me, Yasaka-sama." Rangel smiled beautifully. "But I'm fine. Truly. I'll take a break when I must."

With those words, a flower covered her body with its petals, before retreating back into the ground.

So a few of my people want otou-sama to be their king? To be completely honest, I do think that otou-sama would be a better leader than me.

He's powerful, respected and feared- though he's not feared by my people, he's feared by our enemies. He is able to make snap decisions on the spot, and is able to react to practically anything that happens. I bet that even now he's coming up with ways to deal with the tension among our people.

I had to keep relying on him due to my inexperience. In the aftermath of the Nekomata Genocide, I had gone to otou-sama for advice on what to do. When the devils came demanding that Kuroka be handed over to them, I would honestly have broken under the pressure of Sirzechs Lucifer if otou-sama had not been in the same room and held my hand comfortingly under the table.

I am indebted to him greatly- more so than I could imagine. When he found me collapsed on the side of the road, he took me in and cared for me, as if he were my real father. To be honest, that's what I consider otou-sama to be- my _real_ father.

He did everything a father would do- he taught me about the world, what he saw during his travels, and even taught me about what his own parents taught him- albeit in a much less gruesome and… dangerous fashion.

When I became the queen of the Youkai Faction, father taught me about the people who I needed to look out for- people who would seek to sway me from my proper, neutral position. He continued advising me, and when the Nekomata and Nekoshou were being exterminated, all I could do was sit and think about what I should do while thousands of my people were hunted down. In the end, otou-sama had to personally step in. I'm not sure what he did, but the devils' leaders hadn't spoken to me since.

I'm so grateful to otou-sama for everything that he had done for me, but I can feel myself getting spoiled. I keep relying on him- going to him for advice whenever I feel threatened by a problem, or when things get a little tough for me. I don't do my best, I just ask for what I should do. Even when otou-sama only gives vague hints, I still feel myself relaxing- and everything gets better.

In regards to this civil unrest, I must do my best to show otou-sama that I'm no longer the weak little girl that I was when he first found me. I'll show him that I'm a leader- equivalent to a Satan Class devil even without the Ley Lines and the strongest youkai in history. I'll deal with this issue on my own and show him that I've grown up!

Then Kunou will stop asking me why half the council considers otou-sama better than me in every way.

"Hey, Yasaka." Crom Cruach called outside the door, accompanied by a knock. "You in there?"

I take a deep breath to stabilise myself, before I answer. "I am. Please come in."

The door opened, and the Strongest Evil Dragon walked inside my room. He certainly lives up to his title- just his presence is enough to make me tense. That is, if otou-sama wasn't with me.

"Laverus sent me a message saying that there's a big problem in the youkai faction, and wanted me to double-check if you had received 'the news'."

"I have." I replied with a nod. "Rangel had just told me."

"Alright. That's all, then."

"Please wait." I called out to him just as he turned to leave. "I'd… like to thank you for patrolling Kyoto last night. I detected multiple devils that were infiltrating."

"Oh, that? Don't worry about it. I'm just doing my job as Laverus' queen."

"Even so, thank you." Learning from otou-sama, I bow my head- though only down enough that my mouth would not be seen.

Any more and it will be a sign of weakness. That is what otou-sama taught me.

"Well, you're welcome."

And so, Crom Cruach left my room.

Ever since otou-sama had defeated him in battle, he stayed here as otou-sama's queen. Personally, I don't feel too comfortable with him here- even more so since he had actually hurt a few youkai to force otou-sama to fight him.

But he has helped us quite a bit. Otou-sama said that his presence has made other races fear us a little more, which has helped him reinforce a few threats he had made to other pantheons. While I don't like threatening anyone, I will say that a few pantheons are a little… shady. I don't trust Indra, and even otou-sama felt uneasy about him.

But onto the biggest concern- Khaos Brigade.

I don't know what their goal is, and even otou-sama only took an estimated guess of world domination. This has a few issues, however (and I'm sure otou-sama purposely left these issues unaccounted for to let me nitpick), such as the fact that there are far too many different factions within Khaos Brigade for them all to focus on one goal.

Then, there's Ophis, whom Rangel had reported was the supposed leader of Khaos Brigade. Even I didn't need otou-sama to tell me that Ophis was presumably nothing more than a figurehead of Khaos Brigade.

All she desired was the Dimensional Gap, which the Great Red had apparently taken from her. Everything else was secondary to her- besides, why waste manpower fighting the rest of the world? It just made no sense.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, Ophis being the leader of the Khaos Brigade was what incited otou-sama to begin rushing his work on his sacred gears and evil pieces research. Building a powerful army, he had said.

Was it so that we could fight Ophis? No, wait, this doesn't make any sense!

Otou-sama wouldn't risk letting _anyone_ fight Ophis to defeat her. Even though he's powerful, he's never defeated anyone through brute force alone. He always played a diplomatic and/or political card beforehand. What is he doing? What is he trying to accomplish?

Sacred gears that are able to achieve their full potential without the need for a life-or-death situation… evil pieces to strengthen our ranks… no, what he's aiming for isn't _military,_ it's to catch Ophis' attention! By showing the Infinity Dragon God that our military is growing strong, he's trying to send Ophis the message that Khaos Brigade is weak- to invite her over to our side and propose a peace agreement to at least get her word that her organisation won't attack us!

Otou-sama… you're truly a genius!

 **Author Notes**

In case you were wondering, I'm in 10th grade (cue comments about me being a kid- you know you want to).

Subject selections are this term, and I decided to do biology and chemistry. At least- that was the plan. With my science half-yearly just last Thursday, I realised that I could not do both science subjects- it was a little… difficult.

But enough about me and my problems- I'm sorry it took so long to update. I won't make excuses, but I hope you all had a good two months.

On to the new comment replies-

 **Guest** : This story sucks.

 **Re** : You have my apologies for not being able to meet your satisfaction, but I would certainly appreciate a constructive feedback about what I didn't do right or what I did wrong. Still, I appreciate you taking your time to review.

 **Primevere** : interesting story so far, good luck with it, can't wait to see more c:

 **Re** : Thank you, and I'm sorry you had to wait a while.

 **naruto** : great chapter keep it up

 **Re** : Not sure if this is a mistake on my part- since I saw your review twice- but thank you again!

 **Djberneman** : Very interesting story

 **Re** : Thank you, I'll be sure to keep myself dedicated to this!


	6. Chapter 6

Greatest Devil

Chapter 6: Devil Faction's Response

"What?" Koneko whispered in fear- her normally blank face being filled with apprehension, anxiety and terror. "Onee-sama is… coming here?"

Rias nodded solemnly. "I tried to stop Laverus from bringing her, but he didn't listen."

"Wait," Issei frowned in confusion, "I don't get it. Why's it such a big deal if Koneko's big sister is coming here?"

The redhead shook her head. "I'm sorry, Issei, but it's Koneko's story to tell. Not mine."

"O-Oh, alright."

"B-Buchou, I need to go home." Without waiting for a reply, the rook briskly walked out of the room.

The others only looked at her helplessly as the doors to the clubroom close.

"Oh yeah," Issei's attention snapped up again, "where's Kiba? I haven't seen him all day long."

Akeno tentatively shifted where she stood. "Kiba has… gone home. He said he's not feeling too well right now."

 **Scene Change**

"You!" Kiba growled, glaring with burning eyes as Freed Sellzen stood in front of him, holding an Excalibur- his most hated weapon.

"Hyahahahahahaha!" The excommunicated priest laughed crazily, showing off the holy sword. "As a devil, you're awfully weak to these, yeah? Yeah?"

"Give me that sword!" The blonde knight snarled. "I'll destroy it with my bare hands!"

"Ooh! Can you? Can you though?"

"I will! Now hand that over!"

With a loud, aggressive roar, Kiba ran towards the excommunicated priest.

In a horizontal slash, the blonde knight's sword was shattered due to the powerful elements of the Excalibur.

Gritting his teeth, he created another sword and tried again- to no avail.

With his hatred and rage blinding him, Kiba couldn't fight properly at all. Arguably, he was stronger than Freed, but not in the condition that he was currently in.

Before long, Sellzen himself went on the offensive, and swiftly forced the knight onto his knees with one slash on the shoulder.

"Argh…" Dropping the sword he was currently using, Kiba grabbed his shoulder as he dropped to the ground. "It burns more than I could imagine… just as expected of that sword…"

"Hyahaha!" Sellzen decided that now was the best time for him to turn his back. "Well, I'd love to finish you off, blondie, but I've got a date with destiny! I'll leave you there to die, so don't worry!"

With the special speed granted to him by Excalibur Rapidly, the excommunicated priest ran off.

From the ground, Kiba tried to force himself back up. "Get back here! Come back! Do you hear me! Come back! Tsk… Damn it!"

 **Scene Change**

Rias briefly considered calling her big brother, before that notion was dismissed. She had no idea what to do right now, but didn't want to give that away.

She was given this territory (for the second time) to prove that she was a matured devil and could do many things on her own. Calling her brother now would prove the opposite- that she wasn't able to handle things by herself.

The redhead held her forehead and released a soft sigh.

Koneko was under distress, and Kiba would (at any moment) be going off and hunting down the Excaliburs- directly going against what Laverus had implied. The reason she wasn't looking for him herself?

She couldn't. Right in front of her was the SS-Ranked 'Stray Cat' herself, Kuroka. Unlike her usual self, the black cat wasn't smiling, or even feeling glee nor amusement. She was serious- Rias could tell just by looking at her amber eyes.

"No." She repeated for the fifth time. "I won't allow it."

"Why not?" Kuroka's voice carried thinly-veiled frustration. "She's my sister."

She may be frustrated, but she'll be damned if Laverus found out she wasn't in the diplomatic mindset that he had drilled into her head. No yelling or venting was one of the things that he had taught her. That, and she didn't want any more trouble with the devils.

But this devil was just so… frustrating!

"She is a member of my household now. Koneko does not want to meet with you, and as her master I will make sure her wishes are fulfilled."

Kuroka grit her teeth. "I know what is best for my Shirone. She needs to know what truly happened."

"Know what's best?" Rias repeated dubiously. "You left her alone all those years ago to face the hatred of the elder devils on her own, yet you have the audacity to claim that you know what is best for my servant?"

The redhead was getting onto Kuroka's last nerves. If they continued like this…

A small- almost undetectable- presence made the black cat strictly aware that there would be consequences if she continued playing out a certain scenario in her mind- one that involved a lot of blood.

'Relax, Kuroka.' She slowed her breathing. 'Think about what Laverus-sama had taught you. Cool your mind and close your eyes. Look whimsical but not agitating…'

It certainly worked to calm her down. After a few more seconds, Kuroka snapped her eyes open with pupils narrowed into slits. With her control over Senjutsu, she subtly made herself more intimidating, causing Rias and Akeno (who was standing next to the Gremory heir) to tense.

This tactic wouldn't have worked without a calm mentality on Kuroka's part, as she would have overdone it and given away the fact that she was purposely increasing her aura's pressure, which would have invited her adversary to have done the same.

That would have lead to a chain reaction of continual intimidation that would have only ended in a failed diplomacy and- in the worst case scenario- lead to all-out violence.

Control. That was the foundation of this political and diplomatic tactic. And it was something that Kuroka would have failed in if not for a calm mind.

This, hopefully, would make things easier.

"Then how about this; you let me talk to Shirone and I'll help you with one issue."

Give and take on both sides- and with an increased pressure on a devil still young and inexperienced, it was hard to refuse for Rias Gremory.

After a brief confliction of the benefits in her mind, Rias slowly nodded. "Very well. But I'll be there to watch over Koneko to make sure you don't try anything against her."

Kuroka closed her eyes and nodded slowly, as if she conceded to the terms. Inwardly, though, she smirked.

She had played out this specific scenario many times in her head. She knew that there was no way the redhead could defeat the threat looming over Kuoh by herself- with the Sitri heir alongside her or not- Kokabiel was just far too much for them.

But with Kuroka on their side, they might just stand a chance of surviving and maybe even defeating the fallen angel.

Rias was a devil, and devils had ambition. If she could go to the Underworld and say that she defeated the fallen cadre Kokabiel, she would gain fame, power and stature. Deny it all she wanted to, Rias Gremory still wanted that and more.

Also- though it was just a little bonus- Shirone would feel more likely than not betrayed by Rias for letting Kuroka talk to her. With that, she could have a tiny advantage over the redhead.

There were so many psychological variables that were left up to chance- but thanks to circumstances, the odds were in Kuroka's favour- and they paid off. Then, she realised that she was consciously playing on her own little sister's psychological trusts, but this needed to be done. Only someone like Laverus would be able to detect that kind of subtle intent anyway.

Last she checked, there was _no one_ on his his level when it came to mind games.

"I understand." The black cat slowly stood up. "Thank you. That's more than enough. When may I meet my sister?"

"Give her a bit of time. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"Of course." Kuroka bowed, though not patronisingly. "Thank you for your time."

After she walked out of the clubroom and shut the door, she smirked. It almost went out the window, but she managed to pull it off. Of course, there was the matter of what Rias could and probably would do over the passage of time that she would have to wait, but there was absolutely nothing she could do about it except hope for the best and make-do with what she gets in return.

 **Scene Change**

Issei had stared incredulously at the pair of believers who had been begging for charity.

That ended up with the three of them in this situation- with his money doomed to being drained and the church duo stuffing their faces, making remarks about how delicious the food was.

"So, um, what were you guys doing?"

Irina gulped down some food as she replied. "We needed money since something happened. It was, like, really bad!"

Xenovia's reply was a little more direct. "My partner here blew all of our funds on a fake painting."

"Hey!"

"Why am I not surprised?" Issei muttered. "I guess Irina is kinda clumsy like that."

"You're supposed to be on my side Ise-kun!"

"I'm not wrong!"

"No, you're not."

"Xenovia-chan!"

"What's with all this screaming?" Valerie Tepes walked up to the trio. "Is something the matter?"

"A-Ah…" The chestnut finally realised she was making a rather loud commotion. "N-No, it's nothing."

Valerie gazed at them curiously for a moment, before finally realising who these people were. "You're… If it's not much trouble, may I join you?"

"Sure!" Issei immediately (and happily) scooted over to give the blonde some space. "Go ahead!"

"Thank you very much." Valerie hastily sat down, before whispering in a low voice. "My name is Valerie. I'm a vampire."

Thanks to an enhanced hearing on Issei's part and some training from the church duo's side, they were able to hear her.

Before anyone could react, she quickly continued. "I'm not here to cause any harm. In fact, I disobeyed my own leader just being here. Are you all working to take down Kokabiel?"

Although a bit of hesitation was present on all parties' minds, the three nodded.

"Great- we're all on the same side. I also wish to stop him. We'd stand a better chance if we worked together, so… can we?"

"What are you doing?" Xenovia whispered to her partner. "Let go of me so that I can cut her down!"

"Think about this, Xenovia-chan- she could be with anyone right now; we don't know who she's with. If we kill her without knowing, it could affect us negatively or even lead us to war! Besides, they only said we couldn't accept help from the devils, not a vampire or even a dragon like Ise-kun."

The wielder of Excalibur Destruction couldn't really deny that point. She had said that she didn't want to die, and teaming up with those two could indeed lessen the chances of death. However, there was still an issue.

"What if she's actually working with Kokabiel? She appeared out of nowhere, don't you find that suspicious?"

"Maybe so, but why would she just reveal herself like that to us if she really was on his side?"

While the two were having the hushed discussion, Issei was working hard staying calm in the presence of such a cute girl like Valerie. The vampire on the other hand was nervously glancing around for any signs of Laverus. The Leviathan could literally be anywhere.

After a minute, the church duo reached a resolution. Xenovia was the one who spoke;

"We'd be willing to work with you for this mission only. But our allegiance must be kept in secret. And vampire," she gazed hard at Valerie, "if I find out that you had been working with Kokabiel, then I will cut you down personally. Do you understand?"

"Of course." Undeterred by the threat, the blonde vampire nodded. "But I can guarantee you that I am not working with him, and I never will."

"Then we'll hold you to that."

"Ise-kun." Irina caught her childhood friend's attention. "Will you please keep this a secret from your master?"

"U-Un." She received a nod from the boy. "I'll keep it a secret to the best of my ability."

The brunette smiled, almost in relief. "Alright. Even if you're a devil and now my natural enemy, I'd still like to keep being friends with you."

"Y-Yeah, same here! Anyway, do you mind if I invite someone else here?"

"Is it the little sister of the Lucifer?" Xenovia asked. "You promised not to tell her-"

"-I won'!" He quickly replied. "But I know someone who could help us."

…

A short while later, Saji Genshirou had arrived. "Kaichou already told me everything. What's up, Issei?"

"We need your help."

 **Scene Change**

Sona was deep in thought.

The Sitri heiress had received a message from her sister, informing her of a snap-decision made by the current Satans of the Underworld.

Under careful consideration, she decided to keep her entire peerage waiting in the student council room with her. As of right now, she couldn't afford to have any of them running off on their own and risking Laverus' ire. It's not about being here for personal experience running a school- that was currently a secondary objective.

Now, she is Sona Sitri- the officially-elected representative of the devil faction in Kuoh, aiming to further relationships between the devils and the Shinto-Youkai Alliance. As the younger sister of the Satan in charge of foreign affairs, she wanted to help in any way she can to further Serafall's agendas- even if the Satan was a constant source of headaches and embarrassment for her.

She could use this, in fact. By handling this problem with Kokabiel effectively, Sona could prove that the devils were smart and powerful. If all goes well, then she may even have free reign over Kuoh without Laverus' constant watch over them.

But the biggest threat to this was her own friend, Rias Gremory.

The redhead was just so hot-headed that Sona didn't put it above her to look for Kokabiel herself or mess up spectacularly in some way that would jeopardise her mission of strengthening relationships.

At the same time, she herself was also presenting risks. Whereas Rias could be a threat to the relationship between the devils and the Shinto-Youkai Alliance, Sona could be a threat to very same thing.

If she handled even one thing wrong in regards to dealing with Laverus, then it could harm the devil's relationship as well. Considering that he'd most likely be going to her for any type of diplomacy, her actions will be an important factor.

In pure diplomacy, Sona held no delusion that she could rival Laverus. He was essentially better than her in every aspect. In an obscure game of shady manipulations, she would be crushed without question.

So how should she go from here? The Leviathan had told her that he wished to see how they would deal with this situation.

So how should she deal with a situation where many things could go so wrong so quickly? Her main aim is to impress Laverus Leviathan, which would follow-up with a whole range of benefits for the devil faction.

She had already decided to use her ingenuity, wit and intelligence, but what specific situation could she showcase those traits in? Straight up trying to defeat Kokabiel is a stupid decision to make and was practically impossible for her at the moment. Finding and attempting to steal one or more Excalibur was also a big no-no.

There was nothing that she could do, and this realisation was made yesterday. Even still, she couldn't think of anything. Anything she thought of outside the box was a little… absurd.

Even when she thought back to any clues that he may have given them, all she could draw was a blank.

This was unacceptable! She was Sona Sitri- known for her intelligence! How could she possibly be so stumped over just one issue?

 _"I expected more from one of Maya's descendants."_

 _"I'm going to keep myself low. If I fight, then I'll only be dragging the Shinto-Youkai Alliance into whatever grand scheme Kokabiel has."_

'If he fights… he'll only drag the Shinto-Youkai Alliance into Kokabiel's schemes… But without him, how could we be expected to defeat Kokabiel?'

Sona's eyes widened. It was a risky gamble, but this is the only thing she's got right now. He was testing her to see if she could somehow create a circumstance that Laverus was simply unable to ignore!

If Laverus drags the Shinto-Youkai Alliance into this situation, it'd only reflect badly. But if Kokabiel was the one who dragged them into this, then Laverus would be in a situation where he cannot turn away from it. If he did, then it would reflect poorly on him.

But then back to square one- how could she manipulate the situation into a circumstance like that? Devil kings, this was difficult…

'Wait… Kokabiel's plan is to kill us and restart the Great War. If he succeeds, it would be on Japanese soil. If I'm correct, he'll also try to drag as many factions into the war as he can. Alright, I think I've got something.'

"Tsubaki." The Sitri heiress turned to her queen. "Is there any way that we can get in contact with Laverus Leviathan?"

"I'm afraid we don't, kaichou."

Well, there goes that plan.

Sona began to think harder than she previously thought she could on this matter.

If- and it is a major IF- what she thinks is true, then Laverus should be somewhere near the area of the conflict when Kokabiel inevitably makes his move.

She divided her plan into several steps;

1; She'd have to confirm for sure that Kokabiel plans to restart the Great War in Kuoh and- by extension- Japan.

2; She'd need some form of evidence to present. A recording with a magic circle should do the trick.

3; This was the hardest thing to accomplish- get the recording to Laverus quickly- preferably before any deaths were incurred.

If she could execute all three steps, she'd be able to get Laverus involved. The reason she had wanted to contact Laverus just now was because she wanted to make sure of what was needed for his intervention in the matter. Unfortunately, she'd just have to spitball it now.

Sona Sitri does not like spitballing.

If she was looking at this from a logical standpoint- which she always does- it would most certainly be enough to force Laverus into this, so it's not like this would be a complete estimation anyway. This should be enough. Hopefully.

Now all that's left to do is wait for the inevitable conflict and plan accordingly. She'd need a few contingency plans as well, just in case. But first…

"Saji."

"Y-Yes!"

"What happened while you were out before?"

"Nothing at all!"

She'll have to get some information out of her pawn.

 **Scene Change**

"Irina!" Issei ran towards the chestnut. "What happened?!"

His childhood laid on the ground, apparently injured from some sort of battle while he was away. The rest of the ORC wasn't there, so he had no choice but to carry her back to the clubroom as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, he wasn't as stupid as he could have been since he used his Boosted Gear to increase his strength a few times; making the journey there faster than it would have been otherwise.

When he burst through the door, he called Asia over to heal her. Without question- which the brown-haired boy appreciated- she immediately began using her Twilight Healing to restore the chestnut's health after laying her on a couch.

While that was happening, Rias decided to ask Issei a few questions.

"Ise, what happened to her?"

"I don't know, buchou." The boy helplessly shrugged. "I just found her like that when she called me over."

"And how did she call you?"

"I gave her a leaflet just in case she needed my assistance."

"Your assistance?" The redhead's tone had a bit of steel added to it. "When was this? Why didn't you tell me about it? What were you doing behind my back?!"

In hindsight, Rias realised that she was being a little harsh on Issei. He was still new to all the devil business and hadn't dealt with anything like this before in his life. He was still young and yet to truly mature as a devil- not to mention, she never really gave him any instructions or orders to follow.

But having to deal with both Laverus and Kuroka, worrying about Koneko and Kiba and now having to deal with an exorcist in her clubroom, it was hard not to relieve some frustration.

Issei, on the other hand, was a little stunned at how… unapproachable Rias was being. He could understand, though, and believed that he was the one in the wrong. He replayed her questions back in his mind and quickly made to answer them.

"I-I gave her a leaflet just this afternoon, a few hours ago and didn't have time to tell you because I was worried about Kiba, I was trying to look for him- I promise buchou, I wasn't trying to do anything behind your back- I'm sorry!"

"It's alright, Ise-kun." Akeno intervened. "Buchou is just a little troubled right now and was worried about you. Why don't you go back to your friend over there?"

"Yeah. Irina," he called her when he saw that she was awake, "are you alright?"

"No time, Ise-kun!" Irina exclaimed as she failed in trying to get up. "Kokabiel- he's coming here right now!"

Everyone's eyes simultaneously widened.

"I need to fine Xenovia." The chestnut continued. "We need her. She was trying to find Valper Galilei- we need to bring her back!"

"Who's-"

Issei was cut off by his childhood friend. "-No time! He's coming here- we need to-"

"Akeno. Go get Sona." Rias ordered. "I'm going to call Kiba and Koneko back."

"Right away."

…

Sona curtly entered the room. "I have a plan, but it's going to be a big risk."

"We've got nothing else at the moment," her childhood friend replied, "so what is it?"

"We need to bring Laverus-san into the battle. That's the only we can stand a chance of surviving. To do that, I'll need you to somehow trick Kokabiel into revealing his plans to restart the war and I'll record that as evidence, then get to Laverus-san with that evidence. He won't be able to ignore it and will be forced to step in against Kokabiel."

"How are you going to find him?"

"My peerage will search for him."

"So, wait," Rias looked astonished, "you're telling me that my servants and I are the ones who will hold him off?"

"Say what you want," Sona nodded, "but my peerage is used to working and coordinating as a team, and my peerage is more numerous than yours. Unless you have something that we don't?"

The Gremory heir knew that Sona had several good points in her reasoning, but that didn't help the knowledge that she'd be putting her precious servants into the line of danger. If her friend doesn't make it to Laverus in time, then she and her peerage would no doubt die.

Fortunately, she could call Kuroka over to help her. Although the black cat wasn't exactly the first person she'd trust to watch her back, she was a lot better than most other seedier individuals out there.

"We don't have any time left, Rias." Sona continued. "When Kokabiel gets here, we'll create a barrier to contain the damage. I'll be with you to record what I need, but I'll need to leave soon after to find Laverus-san. I doubt that Kuroka will be enough for this battle."

The Sitri heiress was right- there was no time left. "Alright. Issei, Akeno, we need to go."

"W-Wait, we're facing Koka-whatever head on?!"

"We have to Issei." The redhead then smiled at him. "But don't worry. I'll do everything I can to protect you."

 **Scene Change**

Rias' peerage- alongside Sona and her queen Tsubaki- had assembled in the largest open area of the school- which was the courtyard. Thanks to Saji's information (Sona had to threaten him with a few spankings), Kiba was easily found running around and reluctantly gave up his search to join Rias.

"Rias," Sona grabbed her childhood friend's attention, "what's wrong?"

"I don't have it." She replied. "I never asked how I could contact Kuroka if I needed her."

"So we're not going to have her assistance here?"

"Nya, I wouldn't be so sure."

Issei almost had a nosebleed just seeing how some hot girl had just jumped down in front of them, while everyone else- Koneko especially- had found themselves on guard at seeing the infamous black cat.

"Nya~ hello Shirone."

Koneko did not reply- instead she balled up her hands into fists and bit her tongue.

"Anyway," Kuroka turned back to the two kings, "Laverus sent me here to help just in case something happened. Guess he wasn't wrong~"

Sona narrowed her eyes. 'Laverus-san must have known about this then. He must be close by.'

"Kuroka, we have a plan." The Sitri heiress wasted no time. "We need you to work with Rias and either defeat Kokabiel or buy as much time as you can. Focus on that and we'll handle the rest."

"I could take Kokabiel on by myself, nya." The nekoshou gloated. "I've been trained by Laverus himself after all! Not like someone I know…"

Rias grunted in irritation. "Sona, why don't you just call your sister?" _'I'd rather save the favour she owes me if it can be avoided anyway.'_

"For the same reason that you won't call your brother, Rias. You know she'd go berserk over this in my stead. I can't have her rampaging against the fallen angels."

"Buchou," Akeno walked up to them, "I've contacted your brother. He said that he'll be bringing help in about an hour."

"What?! Why-?!"

"That's not fast enough, at least not without Kuroka." Sona cut off Rias' outburst. "This may go without saying, Kuroka, but please don't get overconfident. We need you to buy us time."

"Nya, don't worry, I'll be fine. You just watch out for yourself."

"You don't need to tell me that."

Kuroka's head then snapped over her shoulder. "He's here." She whispered. "And he's brought a few friends with him."

Everyone armed themselves for the inevitable conflict.

"Oh, look at that!" A slightly crazed voice cackled from above. "If it isn't the two sisters of two devil kings! Oh, and a cat, too."

The black cat grunted. "Glad I'm the afterthought."

Floating there in the sky- almost like levitation- was Kokabiel; his ten black and feathery wings out on full display for all to see. Pointy ears and a face-splitting smile helping to paint the image of a fantastical maniac.

"Why are you here, Kokabiel?" Knowing that time was of the essence, Sona got straight to her plan. "What's your purpose?"

"Oh, me?" The Cadre's smile grew, if that was even possible. "I'm just here to kill the oh so beloved sisters of the devil kings, nothing much!"

Thankfully, Kokabiel wasn't all that bright and was more about talking and gloating rather than getting straight to actions. If nothing else, the devil heiresses and their respective peerages could appreciate that. Sona was quite smart, so she just needed a couple smart nudges.

"We've done nothing to offend you, Kokabiel. The fallen angels who had trespassed in our territory were only subdued and returned to you, not killed."

"Oh, those weaklings?" Kokabiel scoffed. "Fools like them couldn't bother me in the least. But I suppose that- since you're all about to die- I could tell you."

As Kokabiel's smile grew to impossible scales, the Sitri heiress knew it was coming. Subtly activating both a magic circle and a recording software on her mobile phone (she needed some insurance in case one was lost somehow), Sona patiently waited.

"I wish to kill you and all the other trash in this town with the power of the Excaliburs, which would not only get the devil kings involved, but also the seraphs of Heaven! With it all descending to chaos, the Great War will be restarted on Japanese soil- dragging the Shinto gods in! Oh, and the Youkai Faction would also be dragged in, but who cares about them?"

Sona almost smirked- almost. _'Victory.'_

* * *

Author Notes:

Although I had given my reasons in a response to someone who had PM'd me, I will say here that I have no excuse for my lateness.

Attended three parties, two ice-skating sessions (in which I had failed horribly) and two full-days of Smash 2018 isn't really enough to justify the lateness (it would take half of my 2-week holiday at best) of which this chapter had to be released.

But enough about that; onto review replies before my final notes:

Uchiha Cat;

Laverus has a great relationship with the Shinto gods- they're great friends (took a while, but they got there). They both know that there's a time for social visits and a time for diplomatic talks. Laverus' plan has a possibility of failing, and would put the Shinto-Youkai Alliance in jeopardy if it did- which is why Laverus sought permission from them before trying anything. So yes- he just wanted some approval from his peers.

As for how powerful they are; that's a bit up-in-the-air right now. With Hades being in the top 10 but not Zeus or Poseidon, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how gods are ranked. I will say they're certainly able to put up a fight- maybe the third or fourth most powerful pantheon in the world- certainly hitting top 3 if Laverus is concerned. Personal list of pantheons will be at the bottom for you.

For your final question, Laverus has Evil Pieces because he received them after the Civil War (as he had said, he didn't do much). To calm him down when he went plucking off a portion of their population, the devil kings sent him a set of evil pieces.

In response to your critique (thank you for it, by the way)- Laverus was always kept behind the war. He participated in battles against other factions, of course, but the original Leviathan wanted Laverus to only watch and not fight- he had a whole lot more training to deal with before he was finally out on the field- reason being that Leviathan was planning to completely rebel against Lucifer with Laverus as his personal vanguard- meaning, yes, there would have been a civil war no matter what.

His entrance and the amount of fallen angels he butchered was what forced Azazel to withdraw immediately, so they were spared. Kokabiel never faced him. But thank you so much for making me realise that I always seem to fail at giving proper context early on in the story, focusing dialogue and context elsewhere in things that were practically unnecessary, or could have been held off on.

Mythic Imagination;

Thank you for the compliments- I have great teachers and have been reading myself up on guides to making a story (still have a long way to go, though).

Lazymanjones96;

I'm sorry you had to wait, I hope it was worth it.

Ashborn 2271 and Djberneman;

Thank you so much!

dad90;

Don't worry, Rias was young (very young) when she had recruited everyone except Issei and Asia- they have nothing against her. Keeping true to Issei's and Asia's canon personalities (I hope), those two have already forgiven her so everything is fine~

extremeninja90

I get the source materials from the anime, and get a bit of inspiration from fanfic (on this anime and a variety of others).

ZarcEternal;

Thank you for the compliment! I am able to pinpoint some mistakes (which I hope to fix if I ever need to setup a rewrite for this story which I hope doesn't happen) with hindsight and criticism from reviewers such as yourself. Everyone has their own opinions, I'll respect them~

* * *

Anywho, I decided to swap around two events- namely Xenovia and Irina's meeting and Kiba's encounter with Freed. Never understood how the two had met so coincidentally, so in this fanfic, Kiba went looking for Excalibur himself to destroy it, leading to his meeting with Freed.

Personal Top 5 Pantheons:

1- Hindu

2- Greek

3- Shinto

4- Norse

5- Egyptian

* * *

And now my Personal Top 10 List:

1- Great Red, Trihexa/666 and Ophis (So many lists I've seen have Ophis as no. 2, I'm keeping her at no. 1 for simplicity's sake)

2- Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu

3- God of the Bible, Indra and Laverus Leviathan

4- Albion, Ddraig, Crom Cruach

5- Apophis, Azi Dahaka and Lilith

6- Sirzechs Lucifer, Ajuka Beelzebub, Rizevim Livan Lucifer

7- Hades, Zeus and Poseidon

8- Susanoo, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi

9- Thor the God of Thunder and Aten the Aspect of Ra

10- Typhon the Father of Beasts, Fenrir the God-Killing Wolf

* * *

Most of those characters at the bottom two tiers won't make an appearance or even be mentioned in this story, so you could just ignore them. Fenrir's only feat from the anime was killing (or almost killing) Issei. That was it, from what I know.

I probably slapped Laverus a little high there. Putting him on par with God and Indra is kinda pushing it, but we're considering only their powers, abilities and how powerful they are in a fight. Laverus has more tricks up his sleeve now than during the Great War- where he was arguably the weakest he'd ever been in the three major stages of his life (Great War, Civil War and Post-Civil War).

I've been taking Issei's character development a little slow. He's still stuttering a little (and generally has no clue what to do in any situation) because he's just so new to everything supernatural-wise, so I've toned it down. He'll grow more confident as he accomplishes more feats and grows in power and experience, though.

Final Notes; Good lord, I'm entering my senior years in Week 5-6 next term. And I only have about two more weeks (this week included) in the current term. Final exams (called 'yearlies' here) are smashing at me one by one.

I'd like to apologise in advance; I will be posting the next chapter extremely late. Come to think of it, I've been apologising (and saying 'thank you') so much it just seems insincere. If it does, I… don't even know what to say to that except 'I'm sorry' (can we have an emoji here? One that smiles but has a sweatdrop? Just pretend there is).

Next chapter- Laverus shows why he's earned the 'Overpowered!Godlike!' tag, his greatest feat is revealed and Kuroka gets her talk with Koneko/Shirone~


	7. Chapter 7

**Greatest Devil**

 _Chapter 7:_ _**Final Revelation**_

"You know," Kuroka's tone was dry, "Laverus-sama is affiliated with the Youkai Faction. If he wanted to, he'd probably take out all of you _crows_ \- as he called you- by himself."

"All the better!" Kokabiel snarked back. "That bastard was more concerned about starting a civil war rather than fighting us fallen. Oh, I'd like to see him fight in this restarted war! Ah ha ha ha ha haa!"

"That won't happen, Kokabiel!"

From an indistinct location, Valerie showed up- Xenovia close behind her.

"Valerie?" Kuroka turned to the vampire. "If Laverus-sama finds you here-"

"-I want to make sure Gasper is safe myself!"

"Gasper?" Issei turned to a suspicious Rias. "Who's Gasper?"

"My first bishop." the redhead didn't turn her gaze away from Valerie. "I had to seal him away because he was too powerful. But how does she know him…? Maybe…"

"Kokabiel!" Xenovia yelled. "You've hurt my partner! For that, I will defeat you with my blade!"

"Oh?" The cadre rose an amused eyebrow. "Did Heaven really send such a weak little girl after me to recover one of their treasured weapons? Well, you'll still do, I guess. Let's invite my pet to this little gathering!" With a snap of his fingers, a huge monster with three heads- several times the size of a regular human- jumped out of a magic circle. "You devils must know what this is, right?"

"A Cerberus?!" Rias exclaimed in shock. "But how…?"

Also emerging from the magic circle was an elderly man with a mustache and grey hair wearing priest clothes and-

"You!" Issei took a step towards him. "You're Freed Sellzen!"

"Ooh!" The excommunicated priest laughed gleefully. "Look at that! It's the shitty devil! Or, well, the shitty devils!"

Xenovia pointed Excalibur Destruction at the elderly man. "I recognize you- you're the Genocide Archbishop!"

Undeterred by the blade, he bowed a little. "My name is Valper Galilei, but yes. A pleasure to meet someone capable of wielding an Excalibur."

"Who is he?" Valerie asked.

"He's known as the Genocide Archbishop." She replied. "He was responsible to experimenting on children to create artificial Excalibur wielders. When the church found out, we excommunicated him."

Kiba glared viciously at the elder man. "The Holy Sword Project… Then he's _my_ enemy. I'll deal with him!"

"If you're sure. I'll take Freed."

"I'll help with the Cerberus!" Valerie ran to the large dog.

"Akeno and Koneko," Rias called, "you two go help her."

The two nodded in response to their master's command, before running and standing with Valerie before the Cerberus.

"I can hold my ground against it, my… leader trained me a lot." Valerie informed them. "But we'll have to work together to defeat it."

"You take charge." Akeno decided. "Even though we're devils, we don't learn too much about the Cerberus."

"Alright. Koneko, you stay back and wait for an opening. Akeno, please get to the skies and do what you can from a distance. I'll keep distracting it and do what I can to it."

…

"Sona?" Rias whispered to the bespectacled teen. "Now might be a good time for you to go find him."

"I know. Be careful, Rias. Everyone," Sona turned to her peerage, "you know what to do! I hope you all caught it!"

"Yeah!" "Yes!"

With an affirmative chorus, everyone proceeded to run away from the battle.

"Oh?" Kokabiel was intrigued, but did not pursue. "It looks like your friend recognises the futility in resisting. No matter, I'll hunt her down after I'm done with you."

"You may regret that." Despite the severity of the situation, Rias smirked, fully confident in Sona's ability to get Laverus' help. "But even if we die, we won't go peacefully. Kuoh is my territory, and on behalf of my brother, we won't allow you to restart the Great War!"

"Ahahahahaha!" The cadre laughed maniacally. "How cute! And by cute, I mean _pathetic._ Tell me, what can you do to stop me?"

"Oh, we won't. But someone will."

 **Scene Change**

Sona's search plan involved three main phases. The first phase was to make absolutely sure that every single corner of the school and its surrounding areas were checked- no stone left unturned. Everyone's familiars- even those belonging to Rias and her peerage- were stationed around to detect any sign of Laverus.

Each member of Sona's peerage were trained to work together and communicate- it was the only real way to make up for the lack of firepower that they face. Thanks to this, they were able to communicate effectively- to tell the others that they were unsuccessful in finding Laverus in their first assigned position.

The next phase would involve searching a bigger area close to where they had been previously searching- again, if Laverus was not found, the searching member would communicate with the others and move onto phase three- playing it by ear.

From that point on, there was no other clue where Laverus could be, so they had to investigate any area that they could, communicating with the others while doing so to cover as much ground as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sona, as the one in charge of coordinating all the efforts and managing the search, would stay by herself in a safe place.

' _He's nowhere in near the school then.'_ She thinned her lips as Saji reported that he finished his portion of the search. ' _I even had them check the gym storage room. He must be somewhere around the town.'_

There was nowhere that they could immediately go to- no home address, no magic communication, nothing.

The Sitri heiress had no choice- she'd join the search herself. Both she and Laverus used water magic, and Sona had read up about water magic and all its known applications- such as turning oneself into water. Yes, she was nowhere _near_ being able to do that herself, but she could still detect irregular water if she was close to it. The way she saw it; she had the biggest chance of finding Laverus out of anyone around.

Except maybe Kuroka. Her senjutsu was certainly an invaluable asset, but she was occupied with Kokabiel.

Devil kings- _this_ is the reason why she had asked about a quick way of communicating with Laverus…

 **Scene Change**

Koneko slammed both her hands down- full force- at the Cerberus' head, using the gravity and momentum of her descent to her advantage. It howled in pain, before quickly recovering and smacking her aside with its head.

From the clouds above, a barrage of lightning rained down on the hellhound and kicked up a cloud of smoke and dust, obscuring the results from visible sight.

Valerie gasped. "Get back!"

The large cloud parted way for a big blast of fire that the Cerberus sent at Rias' queen, who was catching her breath after the slightly exhausting lightning attack. Thankfully, a large wall of black shadows erected in front of Akeno, shielding her from the fire.

"Aim for the head!" Valerie commanded. "Just a little bit more!"

Without waiting for them to move, the hellhound jumped at Koneko, intent on ripping her apart with its claws. She jumped away- although she wouldn't have been fast enough normally, Valerie manipulated the shadows to grab at the Cerberus' legs, slowing down its acceleration towards Koneko- but it still left her in range of the petite girl's short arms.

With all her strength, she smashed the hound on the head- taking gratification from its howl of pain- before backing off to a safe distance. The Cerberus slowly stood back up- clearly exhausted from the battle.

A little more, and it would be either killed or knocked unconscious.

"Hyah!" Kiba brought his sword into a downward slash against Freed, who countered with Excalibur Rapidly.

Earlier, Valper Galilei had combined Rapidly and Excalibur Nightmare into one.

For some reason, Excalibur Transparency could not be found anywhere. It had been guarded by a bunch of excommunicated priests, but they were all found dead with no Excalibur in sight. Valper had been outraged, though Kokabiel didn't care much for it (since he was capable of destroying Kuoh _without_ them) and Freed was… Freed.

For Kokabiel, the Excaliburs were only meant to bring some exorcists to the town- he had actually hoped for one or two more, but he supposed that taking another two from them if necessary would be enough for war. Hopefully.

Valper, however, had a great fascination with all holy swords. For him to have lost one of the sacred treasures was an abhorrent incident. His research still allowed him to combine two of the remaining blades, and hopefully he'll have two more by the end of the night.

Freed was just bandwagoning.

"Come on come on!" The crazed exorcist goaded. "Where's all your gusto from before?!"

"Shut up!"

Rias, Akeno, and Issei were having a _much_ harder time against their adversary. Being a ten-winged fallen angel, his power was among the top-brass of their ranks.

Even with the boosts supplied by Issei, neither Rias or Akeno could even come close to scratching Kokabiel with their powers. In fact, hitting him only seemed to further his enjoyment of the situation.

He had noticed something… peculiar.

"This energy I'm feeling…" Kokabiel did his best to suppress a chuckle- he really did. "So tell me, lightning user, are you _his_ daughter?"

"Don't speak of him!" Rias' queen snarled.

"Aww! Daddy issues?"

"Shut _UP!_ "

"No need to be shy, child!" Kokabiel half laughed and half spoke. "Not once did the beady idiot regret leaving you and your weak mother!"

Akeno almost rushed _straight_ at the cadre for his remark, just barely stopping by reminding herself that that fallen angel could kill her with a flick of his wrist.

Issei, however, was _much_ more affected by Akeno's unrelenting rage. He had never seen her so… uncontrolled before. Not even the incident with Riser- when she found out that they had lost the game and that she failed her master in her time of greatest need- came _close_ to this level of unbridled fury.

The incessant laughter of the mad cadre roared across the field, permeating a sense of ominisity and dread. Even the humans sleeping peacefully outside the barrier felt chills sprinting down their spines and waking up in the middle of their dreams, inexplicably drenched in sweat.

They weren't just dealing with an average stray devil here, nor were they dealing with Raynare's group. No, what they were dealing with right now could have the potential to very well _end_ all life on Earth, in the Underworld, in the Heavens, and all other pantheons.

If Laverus was seriously just turning a blind eye to this, he must have _serious_ contingency plans in the case of the Great War being restarted.

But there was one serious issue they hadn't addressed.

' _What are you up to, Sona?!'_

Rias Gremory could not, for the life of her, figure out why her intelligent friend was taking so long _just_ to find one person. Their lives were on the line here, so she had good reason to start fretting over the whole matter. They were trying to buy time, but Akeno was freaking out and would probably die sooner or later.

She'd rather prevent any deaths at all. But that was impossible, not with the way things were going.

"I'd like to see what your father thinks of your death!" Kokabiel drew a hand back, and created _the_ biggest spear of light ever seen.

And instantly, everyone's faces dropped.

"Die!"

The light spear, which was probably the size of the entire _school,_ rushed down at blinding speeds. Everyone there was doomed.

Or at least they would have been, if it didn't disintegrate into nothing.

"Hm?" For the first time since arriving, Kokabiel frowned in confusion.

"We meet again, Fallen Cadre Kokabiel."

…

 _Sona rushed through the streets of Kuoh. Though her magic couldn't increase her speed, she was still extremely fast for a normal human. She was thankfully able to coordinate her peerage's search efforts while she was on the move._

 _The north side of the town had been completely turned upside-down searching for the ancient devil, so they'd have to split up and search the rest of Kuoh._

 _Ever since she had found out about how Laverus had interrupted the meeting at the ORC club room, she wanted to try it for herself. Progress was extremely slow since she didn't want to accept help from anyone, and it didn't help that there was an entire school to manage. But what she is currently capable of is more than sufficient._

 _She could detect abnormalities in the air's moisture around herself._

 _So that was why…_

" _You've found me." Laverus' slightly impressed voice reverberated in the surroundings. "I will admit, your pertinacity is not to be underestimated."_

" _I thank you for the compliment, Leviathan-sama." Sone spoke without looking for the source of his voice. "I must ask for your assistance in our battle against Kokabiel."_

" _I reiterate to you again, young Sitri, that I am not associated with you nor your race, and therefore have no obligation to fight for or with you."_

 _She had expected that reply, and already prepared a response. "Kokabiel plans on destroying Kuoh town, not just us governors. He also plans to restart the Great War with the Shinto Pantheon involved by destroying this town and angering your superiors." Something told Sona that Laverus already knew that tidbit of information. "I have the proof with me, a recording of his voice."_

 _She activated the magic circle, and-_ " _I wish to kill you and all the other trash in this town with the power of the Excaliburs, which would not only get the devil kings involved, but also the seraphs of Heaven! With it all descending to chaos, the Great War will be restarted on Japanese soil- dragging the Shinto gods in! Oh, and the Youkai Faction would also be dragged in, but who cares about them?"_

 _A silence pervaded._

" _This is… certainly troubling news." Laverus slowly whispered. "If this is true, then I must go to him myself. Confirmation from Kokabiel himself must be acquired, but I will get to the bottom of it. I thank you for alerting me rather than acting on your own. This is no longer just your problem. It involves what is left of the fallen angels and Heaven, and also the Shinto-Youkai Alliance. Return to your school, immediately."_

 _And just like that, the presence disappeared. After waiting a moment to ensure it was safe, Sona released a relieved sigh. She then activated a magic circle, communicating with her peerage._

" _I've found him. Everyone return to the school and be ready for anything. Good work, everyone."_

…

Sona had just finished explaining to Rias what had happened and why they had taken so long. Now that Laverus was here, however, they could all finally take a breather.

But Valerie… "Umm… Laverus-sama?"

He regarded the half-vampire with narrowed eyes. "We'll talk later."

She nodded.

"Well isn't this a surprise." Kokabiel remarked. "I didn't expect you to be here, Laverus."

"I'm only here to confirm whether you wish to restart the Great War not just on Japanese soil, but also to drag the Shinto-Youkai Alliance into it as well."

"I am, yes. And I intend for you specifically to be involved." The cadre's smile was significantly smaller than it was before.

Gone was the chipper and maniacal tone that had been thrown around only a minute ago. Now, he was completely on his guard. Laverus Leviathan was among the most powerful beings in the world, and could probably kill him with a flick of his wrist. He was still smiling, sure, but it was strained and tensed.

Laverus took a breath with closed eyes, before snapping them open, sharp and stern. "In that case, you have declared war. I, Laverus Leviathan, Head Chancellor of the Youkai Queen and Embassador of the Shinto Pantheon, will put an end to you before you may deal damage. Ready yourself, Kokabiel."

But before anything could happen, Freed rushed up to the ancient devil, fused Excalibur in hand. His enchanted speed from Excalibur Rapidly allowed him to close the distance quickly, and swing the devil-killing blade just as quickly.

"Hahaha! Die!"

No one could react in time. Laverus either did not notice or did not care, as he did not react even in the slightest. The blade made contact with the Leviathan, and…

Did absolutely nothing. It only bounced harmlessly off of Laverus' body.

"Eh?" And that was the only moment of reprieve before Laverus' hand quickly made its way to the exorcist's neck and easily crushing it.

Freed's corpse hung limply from his hand, before it's tossed aside like a broken toy.

"So…" Laverus smiled, almost cruelly. "Shall we get started?"

"H-Hey…" Issei breathed. "That was Excalibur, right? The ultimate weapon against all devils? Why didn't it do anything to him?!"

Rias shuddered. "I don't know. Going off of what we already know, Laverus should have been killed right there. But he didn't even flinch!"

Kuroka and Valerie could easily guess why the Excalibur failed to make a dent on the ancient devil, but everyone else, Xenovia especially, could only stare with widened eyes. She had been conditioned to believe that no devil could withstand the might of a holy weapon. Seeing an _Excalibur_ have no effect on Laverus Leviathan… terrified her.

Kokabiel manifested spears of light in his hands, and rushed down. Hopefully, his momentum will allow a good stab or slash in. Just before his spears made contact, however, Laverus turned his body into water, and Kokabiel had nothing solid to stab.

The water slithered around him through the air and rejoined right behind the fallen cadre, Laverus re-manifesting from the blob of liquid. With a fist encased in water, he punched Kokabiel right on the left shoulder. This lead to his entire left arm being separated from his body.

All of that happened in under a second.

Kokabiel bit his lip. He wouldn't scream. It'd be a sign of weakness that Laverus would all-too-happily taunt him with. Instead, he snapped around and tried to slash the ancient devil with a blade of light in his left hand.

But that was worthless. The blade slipped right _through_ Laverus' body, seemingly swiping at nothing but water, and had no effect. A powerful kick from the Leviathan was enough to send the cadre skidding through the ground.

Everyone else watched in awe. Not even Kuroka and Valerie had imagined this level of strength. Sure, they'd heard about his power and feats before, but being able to now realise his strength, knowing that it wasn't all exaggerated, left them in a bit of a trance.

The other devils had no progress fighting the fallen cadre. Everything they threw at him was bit back several times. But then here came Laverus, effortlessly undermining everything they had tried to do. The ancient devil was doing everything they tried and failed to do with no effort.

Xenovia know realised why her Excalibur was so scared of Laverus. If the ancient devil could so easily curb Kokabiel to the ground, when so many others had struggled against him, God knows what else he is capable of.

"I've seen everything about you, Kokabiel." Laverus spoke when the cadre jumped back to gain some distance. "I've studied you, analysed you, planned against you. All in the event that we meet on the battlefield. I must say, for someone who preaches that the factions have grown weak and brittle from peace, you aren't doing all that well either. You're about as bad as the factions themselves."

Kokabiel growled. "You have no right to speak, coward. From what I know, you always hid behind your friends as they did all the battle, then struck while your opponent was weakened. Just like that one time when-"

"-Oi, Lord Kokabiel!" Valper rushed in from the side. "Here, take this and use the Excalibur!"

He threw a blue inconspicuous crystal to the cadre. From an immediate glance, Laverus quickly knew it had some sort of holy energy to it. Not to be used as an offensive weapon, obviously, but certainly containing a significant amount. What it was meant to be used for probably had something to do with the Excalibur being mentioned.

It was then that Kiba realised his mistake. He had focused all of his rage on getting past Freed's defense to get to Valper, rather than saving it for killing the Genocide Archbishop himself. He had to play it safely against Freed since he had wielded Excalibur. When Laverus appeared, he had been so awestruck that Valper had managed to get under everyone's noses.

Kuroka probably noticed that he was amiss, but had simply waved him off since he didn't have anything in particular that had to be worried about.

Kokabiel unobstructedly caught the crystal, absorbed the energy inside it before stashing it away and bending down to pick up the Excalibur lying at his feet, where Freed had dropped it.

Laverus and Kuroka narrowed their eyes. Everyone else frowned in surprise and anxiety at the action.

The general thought seemed to be, ' _How is a fallen angel able to wield a holy sword?'_

While there wasn't any rule dictating that fallen angels _couldn't_ use a holy sword, they were greatly effective against the fallen. Not as much as they would be to devils, but enough that it would certainly wound them more than the average weapon.

' _The crystal.'_ Laverus deduced, the knowledge of studying holy powers being run left and right in his mind. ' _It looks like Kokabiel is using all of the holy affinities stored in that crystal as his own, allowing him to artificially wield Excalibur. But if he knows that I had destroyed that blade, then how does he plan to use it against me?'_

"Do it Lord Kokabiel!" Valper cheered. "Use the fruit of my research! All the hours I've spent into the project! All of it is ingrained in that crystal! Kill the devils!"

"Well then…" Kokabiel smirked. "It would seem that I have no other option."

A _teleportation circle_ opened up beneath the feet of the cadre. And everyone immediately knew what he was planning.

Valper frowned, hoping it wasn't true. "Lord… Lord Kokabiel?"

"You may have won this battle, Laverus." Kokabiel pranced on, ignoring the excommunicated archbishop. "But this war shall be our's!"

With that, the teleportation circle flashed, and disappeared.

"What?!" But Kokabiel did not disappear with it. "What-What happened?!"

Without warning, Laverus shot forward with a pumped fist. With barely any time to react, Kokabiel only managed to bring up the Excalibur to block. But on contact with the holy blade, Laverus' fist completely shattered the blade. The cadre had only a tenth of a second to widen his eyes before the oncoming fist smashed itself into his chest, the velocity and direction also vaporising his right arm.

That was it. Kokabiel was armless, and completely defenseless. Laverus took the opportunity to quickly spin around and quickly grab all of the cadre's ten wings in his two hands. Without a moment of consideration, Laverus yanked out the wings, earning everyone a drawn-out, horrendous scream of pain.

Stabbing a tendril of water into Kokabiel's two knees, once again earning another cry of pain, the ancient devil finally released the cadre onto the ground, where he heaved and panted in pain and agony.

"You expected to win a war in this state? You're not even fit enough to win a vote of surrender."

"Hahaha…" Even despite the situation, Kokabiel laughed. "Hahahahaha!"

Everyone, sans Laverus, found themselves either slightly or extremely disturbed at how much the cadre cackled in his state, before throwing up blood from his mouth.

"So… is _this_ how I will die?"

"Maybe." Laverus replied. "You declared war on us, Kokabiel. You are my prisoner of war now. I may do whatever I please to you."

' _Well then, no better time to do it than now. If I go down then I'll do at least one more tiny thing.'_ "Haha! At least I die… **to the hand of the one who slayed God himself!** "

Xenovia dropped Excalibur Destruction, mouth hanging open in the shock of the declaration. Everyone not named Laverus or Kokabiel had wide, gaping eyes of disbelief, shock, and fear all at once. Not even _Kuroka and Valerie_ knew that he had killed the almighty ruler of Heaven.

Asia couldn't even feel the tears running down her cheeks. "God is… God is dead? He-He can't die… He's God…"

"Asia!" Issei quickly caught the fainted girl.

"You-You're lying!" Xenovia quickly denied. "God _can't_ be dead! How could the world still go on without Him?!"

"Oh, think about it! Would God let poverty rule over the world? Leaving all the petty corruption of humanity to fester and not do the slightest thing about it?! What about the Holy Sword Project? Why would he allow such a _horrendous_ and _cruel_ experiment take place if he is still alive?!"

"No… No, that-" Xenovia twitched, her mind racing back to all the lessons and beliefs crammed into her mind ever since her early years.

God is almighty. God is undefeatable. God is above everything. God is above _death._

Her vision blurred, and she couldn't hold onto her consciousness anymore.

"How could God possibly die?" Rias whispered. "He's…"

"All hail Laverus Leviathan!" Kokabiel cackled mockingly. "The Greatest Devil! The Destroyer of Excalibur! _The Slayer of God!_ "

* * *

Author Notes:

So… I'm a senior student now! Work is expected to start piling up the moment school starts back up again. Roll-over is basically a trial period for us to get adjusted to our classes and subjects and determine whether we're going to stay or change. I'm fine with mine, personally.

But enough about me, I tried to make the reveal as 'obscure' and 'spontaneous' as possible. I gave you like half a year to work it all out though (xD). So Laverus killed God. He basically just waited behind everyone and kept himself away from the battle, then got the drop on a weakened God. Yeah, he's dirty.

I never really understood how the crystal worked so I just made up something. And since Kiba didn't get his hands on it, he didn't achieve balance breaker. I have a separate plan for him, later on down the line.

I'm not too sure whether I'm going to get to the peace meeting the next chapter or leave it until the one after. Expect lots of Laverus' in-depth political and diplomatic analyses as he scolds Valerie, talks to Yasaka, attends a meeting with the Shinto-Youkai Alliance, and prepares to bring Crom Cruach to the meeting with the other leaders. That's all for now!


End file.
